A ranking curse shadows Argentina's title defence
The champions are favourites — and carrying a statistic no winner has ever beaten.
Here's the line nobody in the Argentina camp will want framed. No team sitting top of FIFA's rankings at the start of a tournament has gone on to lift the trophy — and the holders climbed to that exact perch only last week. Chasing back-to-back crowns with a squad still thick with Qatar 2022 faces, they run into their own history before they ever meet Algeria.
The team-sheet offers little comfort. Their talisman is under a fitness cloud after a knock in MLS, and the left-back is doubtful too. That's a selection headache at the back, and the whistle hasn't even gone.
Algeria, meanwhile, can smell it. Their front two have combined for four goals across the last two outings, capped by a 4-0 dismantling of Bolivia. Yet this is only the African side's fifth World Cup, with a single Round of 16 to show for it. The bookmakers still make Argentina clear favourites. They just can't shake the ghost in the table.
Written and fact-checked by our AI preview desk from live match data. Refreshed as kickoff nears.
