Argentina vs Saudi Arabia: Messi and co to get off to a flyer
Published:
Argentina vs Saudi Arabia odds, preview and tips
Argentina are the second favourites in the World Cup winner odds at 5/1 and get their Group C campaign under way against 500/1 shots Saudi Arabia.
The tournament is likely to be the last World Cup for Lionel Messi, who is 12/1 to win the Golden Boot, so the South Americans will be keen to give the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner a fitting send-off.
Ladbrokes go 1/6 in the Argentina winning odds to win Tuesday’s opener and you can read our World Cup Group C guide by clicking on the link.
Argentina vs Saudi Arabia form
Argentina go into the tournament on the back of a 36-game unbeaten run which included winning the 2021 Copa America for the first time in 28 years with a 1-0 victory over arch rivals Brazil.
The Albiceleste finished runners-up in their qualifying group with a W11 D6 L0 record and remarkably have only conceded twice in their last 15 matches, so they look strong all over the pitch.
Lionel Scaloni’s men are 4/7 to win to nil, 4/6 to be leading at the break and full-time or 13/10 to win both halves in the World Cup odds.
Strangely, Saudi Arabia’s last 19 matches have involved two or fewer goals and although the quality of their opponents were not the same standard as Argentina, they only lost 1-0 to 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia in their final warm-up last week.
With that in mind, Scaloni’s side are 4/5 to win and under 3.5 goals or it’s 19/10 on a 1-0 or 2-0 victory in our Argentina vs Saudi Arabia betting tips.
Argentina have also been leading in the first half an hour in their last six matches, including a 3-0 victory against Italy, and that option gets our vote at 23/20 in the World Cup betting.
Saudi Arabia have never beaten Argentina in four attempts, although they drew 0-0 in their last encounter, a friendly 10 years ago.
Argentina have won two and drawn two of their four meetings since 1988, so the Saudis are up against it.
Argentina vs Saudi Arabia team news
Messi will be the main man as usual but the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Angel Di Maria and Julian Alvarez will be important members of the team.
Although Scaloni has plenty of attacking options at his disposal, the dirty work will be done by Juventus’ Leandro Paredes in a holding midfield role.
But Joaquin Correa, who scored in Wednesday’s 5-0 victory over the UAE, and Nicolas Gonzalez have been forced to withdraw because of injury.
Atlanta United’s Thiago Almada and Atletico Madrid’s Angel Correa have been added to the squad as a result.
Five members of Argentina’s 26-man squad play in the Premier League, including Brighton’s Alex Mac Allister and Aston Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez.
Saudi Arabia’s experienced coach Herve Renard will be without pacy winger Fahad Al-Muwallad, who was withdrawn from the squad last week as a precautionary measure due to an ongoing doping case.
Argentina vs Saudi Arabia goalscorer odds
Messi has scored an incredible 10 goals in his last four appearances for Argentina and is the 11/5 favourite to break the deadlock or 4/6 to score.
But Martinez is not far behind at 7/2 and 6/5 given he netted against Italy in the Finalissima and has been in excellent form for Inter Milan.
Alvarez opened the scoring against UAE and is 7/2 to repeat the trick or 5/4 to get on the scoresheet bearing in mind he could be on the bench.
Although Di Maria has scored just once for Juventus this season, he finds the net once every four and a half games for his country and is 9/2 to draw first blood or 7/4 to find the net.
Match Info
Where: Lusail Stadium
When: 10:00, Tuesday 22nd November
How to watch: ITV
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
