Day 19 of the World Cup gives us the final two matches in the last 16 with four nations vying for the final two spots in the Quarter Finals.
The penultimate last 16 affair pits Argentina against Switzerland in Sao Paolo at 13:00 local time before Belgium take on the United States in the final match in Salvador.
Argentina vs Switzerland
Argentina will be looking to make the Quarters for the third successive World Cup and they’ll also avoid Germany if they were to progress as the German’s had knocked out the Argentineans on both occasions. The South American side topped Group F thus avoiding the European dark horses of France and have set up a much easier on paper tie with Switzerland.
Coach Alejandro Sabella has to be careful however as his side have only edged out all three of their Group F opponents by a singular goal and Switzerland’s attacking intent could prove an issue foe the unproven backline.
They’ll very much be reliant on the ever present Lionel Messi who has lit up the tournament, managing to net in every match so far. Sabella will be hoping for better performances from Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain if they’re going to outscore the Swiss and enter the final eight and the team need have a complete team performance, something we haven’t seen so far in Brazil.
Switzerland will be hoping to go one better than their 2006 World Cup which saw them knocked out to Ukraine seeing as they have already bettered their performance in South Africa when they failed to make it out of the Group Stages. The Swiss are a generation of young and hungry players who are passionate and proud to be playing for their nation.
The answer to Lionel Messi is Bayern Munich’s Xherdan Shaqiri who netted a surperb hattrick against Honduras in the final Group E match and Argentina’s defence will have to be on red alert to stop the 22-year-old. They’ve never beaten the Argentinean’s however, playing six and losing on four occasions.
Probable line ups:-
Argentina (4-3-3) – Romero, Zabaleta, Garay, Fernandez, Rojo, Gago, Mascherano, Di Maria, Lavezzi, Messi, Higuain
Switzerland(3-5-2) – Benaglio, Lichtsteiner, Inler, Xhaka, Behrami, Rodriguez, Mehmedi, Drmic, Djourou, Schaer, Shaqiri
Belgium vs United States
Belgium were tipped as Europe’s dark horses for this tournament and they have progressed as Group H winner’s but haven’t truly impressed as of yet. Two 1-0 wins in their final two group games may seem a tad disappointing especially with the attacking options at hand for the Belgian’s yet it resembles very much the way Spain lifted the famous trophy back in 2010.
They joined the Netherlands, Colombia and Argentina as the only nations to go into the last 16 with a 100% win record despite netting the least out of all of Marc Wilmots‘s sidehave a good track record against the Americans having defeated the USA four times in their last five meetings, their most recent victory being a 4-2 success in a friendly match last May.
Belgium look to facing a defensive crisis though, with Anthony Vanden Borre missing out with a broken ankle and the fitness of Vincent Kompany isn’t 100%. Toby Alderweireld is likely to make the starting XI due to this.
The United States proved to surprise us all, progressing through a tough Group G and managed to out-place Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal on goal difference highly down to their fantastic performance against the Portuguese in the second group game. Coupled with a victory over Ghana, Jurgen Klinsmann guided his side to their second knockout stage in a row and will be hoping it will having a better ending than in South Africa.
That, funnily enough ended by the Black Stars so a hint of revenge was clearly in order during the 2-1 victory. There are no fresh injury concerns ahead of the game. It has been confirmed that Sunderland stiker Jozy Altidore could feature in some capacity as he continues to regain match fitness.
Probable line ups:-
Belgium (4-3-1-2) – Courtois; Alderweireld, Van Buyten, Kompany, Vertonghen; Witsel, Fellaini, De Bruyne; Mertens, Mirallas, Origi
United States (4-4-1-1) – Howard; Johnson, Cameron, Besler, Beasley; Beckerman, Jones; Bedoya, Bradley, Zusi; Dempsey
