The South American giants will be strong favourites to progress to the knockout stages, however Croatia, Nigeria and Iceland will provide strong competition in Russia.

Argentina

La Albiceleste still possess an impressive array of attacking talent which helped them reach the final in Brazil four years ago.

Even so, Messi, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain are all in their 30s and this tournament may represent their last chance of international glory.

Head Coach: Jorge Sampaoli

Drafted in at the 11th hour, Sampaoli, 58, salvaged a difficult qualifying campaign, which saw managers Gerardo Martino and Edgardo Bauza depart in the space of nine months.

Sampaoli is no stranger to international management, after winning the 2015 Copa America trophy with Chile, defeating Argentina on penalties in the final.

Key Player: Lionel Messi

The team are still heavily reliant on the Barcelona superstar, now 30, ahead of his fourth World Cup.

Argentina wouldn’t have made it to Russia if it wasn’t for Messi’s hat-trick against Ecuador in the final round of qualifying and, despite their wealth of attacking talent, La Albiceleste looked lost without their talisman.

How They Qualified:

A four-game winless run, including a chastening 3-0 defeat to bitter rivals Brazil, halfway through the qualifying campaign left Argentina on the back foot.

Then, a 2-0 defeat in Bolivia resulted in Bauza’s dismissal, as the South American giants fell out of the automatic qualification places with four games remaining.

The next three qualifiers (against Uruguay, Venezuela and Peru) all ended in draws, before Messi’s final-round heroics saved them.

FFT Prediction: Quarter-Finals

With Messi in the side anything is possible. However, it’s clear Argentina are not the best team at this year’s competition.