Match Today: Argentina vs Australia 03-12-2022 Qatar World Cup 2022

It was a strange World Cup for Argentina. They were rightly criticized after suffering a 2-1 defeat by Saudi Arabia. They then went on to beat both Mexico and Poland to win the group. Now they will face Australia in a surprise qualifier for a place in the quarter-finals. With the winners of this encounter facing either the Netherlands or the United States in the quarter-finals, Argentina's chances of reaching at least the semi-finals look good. They are so excited to win this match even if they are not firing on all cylinders. This will not be easy as Australia have won their last two matches. France got past them four goals in the group stage but have tightened a lot since then.

While Argentina has only one loss in its last 39 international matches. They went 36 unbeaten before facing Saudi Arabia in their opening match at the World Cup. They lost that match 2-1 but still topped the group. Both of the last two games have been won by nil. Seven of their last eight international matches they have won and they have kept a clean sheet in all of those wins. Argentina takes a while to get the score sheet. They scored from a penalty kick in the first half of their match against Saudi Arabia but the closest they scored since then came in the 46th minute. Australia reached the knockout stages of a World Cup for the first time since 2006. On that occasion they lost 1-0 to Italy but only by a stroke. Penalty in the 95th minute. It's only the second time they've been knocked out in the group stage. Perhaps they weren't thinking of a Round of 16 match when they needed to win on penalties against Peru in the play-offs or when they conceded four goals against France. Over 90 minutes, Australia have won six of their last eight matches. In their last six matches, they have kept five clean sheets and five of those matches have seen less than a goal.

Argentina is likely to return Lautaro Martinez to the starting line-up. He was comfortable for the match against Poland. The last to join the team is Enzo Fernandez. Australia have not reported any new fitness problems and could change in their last 16 matches. Argentina have kept seven clean sheets in their last eight matches. Australia have had five clean sheets in their last six matches. He has scored less than a goal in five of his last six matches for Australia. The last two Argentine matches in this tournament scored less than a goal. In the previous six matches between these two countries, only one match scored more than one goal. Argentina will have to improve if they want to win the World Cup. They have recovered well since losing to Saudi Arabia but they don't look like the World Cup winners. They face an Australian team full of confidence and kept clean sheets against Tunisia and Denmark.