World Cup Group C Review
Group C of the World Cup comprises Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Poland. This group has some of the best teams in the competition to some of the lower-ranked teams.
Argentina
Argentina is the favourite team to come top of Group C during the World Cup. This year will be the last time Lionel Messi can win the biggest tournament in football. He is one of the best football players in the world and Argentina’s best player. However, the team is full of star players and is one of the bookie's favourite teams to go all the way. Lionel Scaloni’s side might lack the star quality of some previous Argentina squads, but they look much better balanced. After ending Argentina’s cup draught of 28 years after becoming the current Copa America champions which will give them the confidence to go and win this competition.
The Pitchsider’s view is that Argentina will go far in this competition after topping the group. We think they will likely go to the semi-final, where they will lose the semi-battle. Therefore, we do not believe that they will win the competition this time.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is a very interesting team in this group. Like Iran, they are not very well known. This could work in the favour if the other teams don’t do their research; they could suffer a shock loss. Saudi Arabia is grimly consistent under Hervé Renard, and he is the only coach to win the Africa Cup of Nations with two different countries. They conceded a single goal in their ten third-phase group games.
The PItchsiders view is that they will not have the players to make it out of this group and will come last overall in the group. Their first game is against Argentina, and this will be a hard test for the team in this group, but a good showing against them will send waves through this group and the rest of the competition.
Mexico
Mexico is a team that is used to coming to the world cup now. This will be their 17th appearance at the world cup. Only Brazil, Germany, Italy, and Argentina have more. Mexico stands a good chance to get out of this group by getting to the round of 16 in the last eight times. Mexico starts this tournament with a very important match against Poland. There’s a good chance that these two countries will fight it out for a second place in the group. Mexico has a strong squad, with players like Edson Alvarez and Raul Jimenez. This is their chance to make their country proud.
The Pitchsiders view on this is that Mexico will come second in this group but will struggle to go past the quarter-finals. They have a well balanced team, but the quality of the player will not be able to that them all the way. The first game against Poland will be the one that sets what type of competition Mexico will have, whether successful or not.
Poland
Poland is a team that looks strong with their main striker and key man Robert Lewandowski. The top striker made a transfer from Bayern Munich to Barcelona. It will be interesting to see if he can keep his goal-scoring record going in La Liga. If he can, he’s the player Poland will trust to finally bring them some national success. The Polish team always looks strong but struggles during the big tournaments. Can they get through the group stage this year? Poland’s playoffs win over Sweden suggested they are rather more than just Robert Lewandowski plus ten others. The biggest game will be against Mexico, which is likely to decide who will get second in this group.
The Pitchsider View is that they will finish third in this group and will likely have a close competition with Mexico, and the game in the group against them will be enough to make them succeed in this group.
Conclusion
Overall, in this group, Argentina will win very comfortably and will be followed by Mexico. Both teams will make it through this group, but Argentina will go a lot further than Mexico. However, Argentina will come a close third, with Saudi Arabia to finish the bottom of the group. Like group B, this will be a great watch with four teams really pushing to get through this group.