QF preview: Argentina V Belgium

History will be on the South Americans’ side when they take on Belgium in the Brazilian capital city of Brasilia.

Argentina have won three of their previous four encounters with Belgium [GALLO/GETTY]

Lionel Messi’s brilliance has been enough to get Argentina past Bosnia, Iran, Nigeria and Switzerland, but the Belgians will provide a much sterner test in this quarter-final match.

Argentina will need some greater variety in attack in order to please their fans, and maybe get more players forward, if they are to end their 24-year wait for a semi-final place.

Head-to-head
  • Argentina have won three of their previous four encounters with Belgium.
  • The two World Cup meetings have produced a win each.

Messi’s form has been a stark contrast to his ineffective fellow forwards. Higuain and Rodrigo Palacio have yet to score, Sergio Aguero has already gone home because of injury and Di Maria was guilty of giving the ball away routinely against the Swiss before his goal.

Belgium, making their first quarter-final appearance since 1986, are cranking into gear and followed their three sluggish group stage wins with a far more impressive display against the United States in a breathless second-round match.

Defender Vincent Kompany believed his team could exploit Argentina’s willingness to push forward. “If they decide to play their usual attacking game, we’ll have a pretty good chance against them,” he said.

Venue: Estádio Nacional de Brasilia, Brasília

Kick-off: July 05, 1600GMT

Most recent meeting: The two sides last met in the 1986 World Cup semi-final in Mexico, where Diego Maradona struck twice in the second half to give Argentina a 2-0 win and went on to win the tournament.

Source: AP