At Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Saturday, there will be a match between Argentina and Australia.

Argentina

Argentina went past a weak Poland team on Wednesday after overcoming a rocky start thanks to a courageous victory over Mexico in their second Group C encounter. The 11th time in the last 12 finals that the two-time world champions have gone to the knockout phase, many analysts still predict that they will win the World Cup later this month.

Australia

After winning two of their three games—first over Tunisia and then the eventual semifinalist Denmark—Australia defied expectations to finish second in Group D behind the defending champions France. They accomplished this feat solely on the basis of goal differential.

Prediction

There is a tremendous mismatch between these two teams on paper, and I believe that mismatch will manifest itself on the football field this next Saturday. The Asian Handicap -1.5 win for the Albiceleste in this World Cup round of 16 game is a wise wager given how well Argentina's defense shut down both Mexico and Poland.


Pick: Argentina -1.5