The vaunted Argentinians are poised to open their 2014 World Cup campaign against Bosnia and Herzegovina, a team making its tournament debut. Alejandro Sabella’s squad are favored by many to return to the Maracana for the Cup final in a few weeks, but for now, Argentina and Bosnia will tonight share the honor of playing the first World Cup game in Brazil’s most famous soccer venue since the 1950 final, which the Brazilian side lost to Uruguay in one of history’s more memorable matches.
Bosnia and Herzegovina earned its first taste of World Cup play with an impressive offensive showing in its qualifying campaign. In international friendlys and qualifying matches over the past year, the team, led by Edin Dzeko, Miralem Pjanic, Emir Spahic and Asmir Begovic, has shown an ability to score goals in bunches. That trend will need to continue if they hope to compete against one of the world’s top offenses.
The Argentine attack, highlighted by Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero, set up by Angel Di Maria and Pablo Zabaleta and anchored by Javier Mascherano, will be looking to light up the Maracana against the inexperienced Bosnians, so the match could easily produce a healthy amount of goals. The wrinkle in the fold of the match is the improvement of Argentina’s back end. The back line, held together by Federico Fernandez and Ezequiel Garay, is expected to perform better than Argentinian backs of the past. Long known as a team that was all attack, no defense, this is a good opportunity for Argentina to showcase that improved defense to the rest of the world. The attacking potential of Bosnia and Herzegovina should provide an adequate test.
This match will feature a Bosnian offense that might be better than you think, and an Argentinian defense almost certainly is. But really, this is Messi in the jewel of Brazilian soccer; that should supply all the interest required to hold your attention.
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