Popular Sports
All Sports
Show All

Evening all, and welcome to the biggest match of the World Cup so far. Argentina need this; Lionel Messi needs this; but so do Croatia. It's true that Argentina could lose tonight and still qualify for the last 16, but they're absolutely desperate for some form. If Croatia beat them, it'll take a major effort to turn things around. And the hope is that it'll be fun to watch them both try; both teams have brilliant attacking players, and it's hard to see either sitting back; but we've said that before, haven't we. This is going to be great ... maybe.

World Cup / Group Stage
Nizhny Novgorod Stadium / 21.06.2018
Live
Live Updates
Kevin Coulson

Updated 21/06/2018 at 20:56 GMT+1


18:23
Some pre-match reading, should you fancy...
18:22
They're playing in a disco ball! Hellsyeah!
18:21
A pictorial representation...
18:17
Jorge Sampaoli has had enough: out go Rojo, Biglia and Di Maria; in come Mercado, Perez and Acuna. And there's also a change of strategy: Saturday's frankly useless 4-2-3-1 is now a more dynamic 3-4-2-1. I won't be perfect, because Mascherano, done ages ago, is in the middle of midfield, and the defence is still dodgy, but there's legs in this XI and if it helps free Messi, then it's worth it; hell, anything is worth that.
18:16
And here's yon Argentina team...
18:15
It's actually hard to see how Argentina are getting near Croatia in midfield ... but it's equally hard to see how Dejan Lovren is getting near Lionel Messi, so.
18:13
So, Croatia make one change from the team which schlepped to victory over Nigeria: Brozovic comes into midfield, in place of Kramaric, who played up front, which is to say that they're playing more of a 4-2-3-1 than a 4-4-2, and also that Modric will play slightly further forward tonight.
18:08
...how absolutely dare they.
18:07
Argentina don't seem to have let us know yet...
18:07
18:05
Responsible for the mankind's joy tonight are: