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On June 14, football fans from all over the world will gather to celebrate the return of the biggest competition in the sport. On that day, the FIFA World Cup, highly regarded as the mother of all football competitions will go live in Moscow, the capital city of Russia.
Players are getting ready, fans are packing their bags, everyone is preparing to watch the most prestigious tournament. No one wants to miss any part of the action-packed and interesting competition.
As the tournament draws nearer, one question that football fans can't stop asking is whether South American giants, Argentina can win the tournament this time or not. They made it into the final of the competition in 2014, but they narrowly lost the trophy to Germany, who defeated them 1-0 in Brazil.
Under the tutorship of Jorge Sampaoli and the leadership of Lionel Messi, the Albiceleste are back in the competition once again, looking forward to making up for their recent misfortune in the last edition.
While their mediocre performances during the qualifiers have raised big question marks over their chances of winning the tournament this year, it is true that the Albiceleste can definitely overturn the odds and end up winning the crown in Russia due to the 5 reasons listed below.
#5 The Attacking strength
As usual, the World Cup will feature a lot of incredible players who will be fighting for honor and prestige for their respective nations. Countries like Germany, England, Spain, Brazil, France, and Belgium are all filled with amazing talent on all areas of the pitch.
But when it comes to analyzing the nations with the most impressive attackers in the World Cup this year, no one definitely compares with Argentina.
The South Americans have some of the best attackers in the world right now, with the likes of Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala in their ranks.
These are players who are currently scoring for fun and they are all heading into the World Cup after having prolific campaigns with their respective clubs.
Messi scored 44 goals for Barcelona in all competitions last term, Aguero scored 30 for Manchester City, Higuain scored 23, Dybala 24, and Di Maria 19.
Since the most important thing in football is to score goals and win games, the presence of amazing sharpshooters in the squad means that Argentina definitely stands the chance of winning the prestigious trophy in Russia.
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#4 The impact of Lionel Messi
Any nation, irrespective of size or strength can dream of winning the World Cup if they have arguably the world's best player in their team. Apart from having some of the finest superstars in their squad, Argentina also have one of the greatest players in history.
A genius by definition and a magician by description, Barcelona legend Lionel Messi will be looking forward to claiming the World Cup for his nation this year.
The playmaker almost won the prestigious trophy for his country in 2014, dragging the Albiceleste to the final of the tournament before suffering a narrow defeat at the hands of Germany.
This time, the attacker has come back even stronger, looking forward to winning what could be perhaps his last World Cup tournament.
Messi is heading into the competition after having a successful campaign with Barcelona, bagging 44 goals and 14 assists in all competitions as well as helping the Blaugrana to complete a domestic double.
With the incredible genius on the team, who says Argentina can't win the World Cup?
#3 Consistency in the tournament
It is very strange to see a nation coming from nowhere to win the World Cup. That is why the likes of Brazil, Germany, and Italy have been the most dominant nations in the tournament for a long time. Such is the value of consistency in the competition that the biggest footballing nations usually have the upper hand.
Among all the nations participating in the World Cup this term, Argentina have been one of the most (if not the most) consistent performers for the past few years. They progressed to the knockout stages in 2002, 2006 and 2010 before finally reaching the final in 2014.
Even the Germans won the last edition experienced a similar run, making it into the final in 2002, progressing to the knockout stages in both 2006 and 2010 before finally winning the trophy in 2014.
Therefore, this amazing experience and incredible consistency is another reason why Argentina can win the World Cup this year.
#2 The Influence of Jorge Sampaoli
After a lot of crisis and commotion, the Argentina Football Federation finally unveiled former Chile and Sevilla head coach, Jorge Sampaoli as the manager of the national team on June 1, 2017.
Ever since then, the manager has been working earnestly to put a collapsing team back in shape.
Even while several crisis and distractions threatened his progress, the manager successfully led the nation into the World Cup and established a firm foundation for further success.
Jorge Sampaoli is truly one of the best managers in the world at the moment. In fact, the tactician has proved his ability when it comes to winning important trophies, recently claiming the Europa League and the Copa America.
Just as he led both Sevilla and Chile to glory, the 58-year-old might end up leading the Albiceleste to World Cup triumph this year.
#1 The absence of the favourite badge
The Albiceleste are currently being celebrated as they head into the WC 2018. However their road to the tournament wasn't as smooth as the current mood suggests.
The South Americans were really terrible on their way to the competition, producing a lot of mediocre and embarrassing performances during the qualifiers.
They were on course to miss the competition, only to be rescued by a brilliant hat-trick from Lionel Messi against Ecuador which helped secure their place in the tournament.
Due to their recent poor displays, many are writing them off for the World Cup. However that is obviously arguably the best thing that could happen to them at the moment.
The fact that they are being underrated means they will not be considered favourites, thereby helping to reduce the pressure on their shoulders and allowing them concentrate fully on the tournament.
