If you’re looking for a group with plenty of excitement and compelling story lines, look no further than Group D. Lionel Messi is looking to finally win a major international tournament for Argentina after finishing as runners-up at the 2014 World Cup, 2015 Copa America and 2016 Copa America. Meanwhile, Croatia is looking to recreate its magical run back in 1998, which is still considered one of the most surprising runs ever.
The underdogs have interesting stories too. The Nigerians probably have the richest recent history of any of the African teams, but they have not been able to get past the Round of 16. Finally, tiny Iceland is at the World Cup for the first time ever and looking to build off of its performance at Euro 2016.
Once every four years, the world's most popular game has its biggest tournament. The World Cup is as big as it gets all over the world, especially for the 32 countries who have earned the right to partake in this tournament. We think of the World Cup as a four-week tournament in June and July every few years, but this is actually a tournament where every FIFA team in the world has a chance to make it to the big stage.
The 2018 World Cup in Russia will begin on Thursday, June 14 and run through the final on Sunday, July 15. All of the action can be seen on FOX, FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2.
FIFA 2018 World Cup Group D Betting Odds
Argentina -147
Croatia +230
Nigeria +1050
Iceland +1250
Argentina
This is probably the last hurrah for Argentina as we know it. Almost all of the key pieces of this team are 30 or will be by the time the World Cup is over, so it’s now or never.
With arguably the world’s best player so far this century in Messi and a wealth of talent around him, it would be incredible if this group never raised a major trophy. That has weighed heavily on Messi, who briefly retired from international play after his team’s stunning loss to Chile in the Copa America Centenario final two years ago. Messi is back and makes this team one of the top contenders for at least one more year.
Joining him are talented attackers like Ever Banega, Angel Di Maria, and Sergio Aguero. Youngster Paulo Dybala will probably see some time in the starting lineup as well.
In the back, Javier Mascherano is still the leader, but no one else has much experience outside of he and Nicolas Otamendi. That could be an issue.
Croatia
For the first time in two decades, Croatia looks set to make it out of the Group Stage at the World Cup. The Croatians have their deepest team since that legendary squad, and they should be one of the most exciting teams to watch on the attack.
Luka Modric is the captain and leader of the team. He is one of the most gifted midfielders in the world and can spring an attack with just a little bit of space. More often than not, he will be looking to set up Mario Mandzukic, a powerful forward that can muscle defenders off the ball in order to get a quality shot on net.
Like Argentina, this is likely the last real chance for this talented group of players to achieve international success.
Nigeria
Aside from a crushing loss to Morocco, a game blown wide-open by Peter Moses’ red card, the Super Eagles have been extremely impressive in international play recently. They came back from a two-goal deficit to beat Argentina at a neutral site, and Nigeria were unbeaten in 11 straight before the loss to Morocco in early February.
Victor Moses is Nigeria’s talisman and his up-and-down style will see this team counterattack often. He will team up with former Chelsea teammate John Obi Mikel to try and see this team through to the knockout stage.
Iceland
The performance of Iceland at its first major international tournament was one of the stories of the last European Championships. Iceland was not given much of a shot, but used a stout defense and some great play from Gylfi Sigurdsson to upset England in the Round of 16 and make the quarterfinals.
Once again, Iceland is no pushover. This team now has a good amount of international experience. Iceland won its qualifying group and has a ton of confidence coming into the World Cup.
