Special Edition: The Golden Nuggets World Cup 2010 - Argentina v Greece

By Sports Magician

Tuesday night is likely to be a very special one in the glittering young career of Lionel Messi. The best player in the world is expected to captain Argentina for the first time in the absence of Javier Mascherano - who is one yellow card away from a suspension. Reading between the lines of Diego Maradona’s latest press call in which he stated in reference to whether Messi would play against Greece, “Back in the day, I went to Barcelona to tell him not to be worried. And now his time has come. Yesterday (Sunday), when I told him what I told him, he got emotional. It's something beautiful”.

Maradona added, “Messi wants to play every match and I love that. I was thinking of giving him some rest, but to have a player of his talent, the best in the world and with a big difference over the rest, it would have been a sin not to give his team-mates and the fans the chance of seeing him play again. That's why we are using him. He was super happy. If he is in a bad scoring run, but he keeps giving me and the team these kinds of performances, let him stay in a bad run! I'm absolutely pleased with what Lio is doing. He comes out to play and he makes his team-mates play. He is creating chances, though his goals are still refusing to come. And anyway in 1986, against South Korea our scorers were Ruggeri and Valdano, and against Bulgaria - Valdano and Burruchaga. I scored when we needed it the most and Messi will do the same”.

There will be some changes, though. It has all but been confirmed that Sergio Aguero will replace Carlos Tevez, and Diego Milito will lead the line instead of Gonzalo Higuain. Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Burdisso and Clemente Rodriguez come into the back four. Rodriguez, particularly, will offer Argentina a threat on the left that Gabriel Heinze is incapable of providing from the left full back position. In midfield, Mario Bolatti replaces Mascherano, and Juan Sebastian Veron returns to the team in place of Angel Di Maria who has covered more than 20km in the tournament so far. A lot more is being asked of Di Maria in terms of tracking back; and that is one reason why we haven’t seen him provide the attacking spark that he is capable of.

We had success in the scoring stakes when Argentina faced South Korea and the opportunity to do the same presents itself against Greece. The Greeks pride themselves on solidity and being hard to break down, but the truth is that South Korea and ten-man Nigeria opened them up a number of times. Against attacking talent such as Argentina possess, Greece are in for a torrid time.  If Milito is afforded the chances Higuain was against Nigeria and South Korea, then the treble winning Inter Milan forward has every chance of filling his boots. Aguero can be very selfish, and for that reason, we must also look to back him to score two or more as he generally has a shoot on sight policy.

PICK: 5*ARGENTINA TO SCORE MORE THAN 1.5 GOALS @ 1.80 (BOYLESPORTS)

PICK: 4*LIONEL MESSI TO SCORE ANYTIME @ 2.25 (CORAL)

PICK: 2*DIEGO MILITO TO SCORE TWO OR MORE GOALS @ 12.00 (BET 365)

PICK: 1.5*SERGIO AGUERO TO SCORE TWO OR MORE GOALS @ 12.00 (BET 365)

Sports Magician