Saudi Arabia – Mexico

More classy Mexican team expected to snatch victory

Group C had already delighted the world footballing public with sensational results since the first round. Saudi Arabia's victory over Argentina has turned things upside down. Ahead of the final round, each of the quartet's squads can either drop out of the tournament or progress to the 1/8 finals. The distribution of the first two places is also important here, as it is already known that the second team in Group C will face France in the first leg of the play-offs. Poland now have four points, with Argentina trailing by three. The opponents for the upcoming game are in roughly equal terms, despite the Saudis' two-point advantage over Martino's squad. The Saudis have three points, while Mexico have one. Both teams can drop out of the tournament by drawing against each other. Bookmakers have identified the Mexicans as the favourite for the third round match, with betting odds of 1.7-1.8. After a sensational win in the first round, Saudi Arabia were less successful in their second-round match against Poland. Although it was an evenly contested game for most of the match, Lewandowski and company showed class, punishing their opponents for clear missteps. The defeat brought the Asian confederation representative back down to earth and shook their overconfidence. Nor can the team's prospects in the next match be helped by the inability to field Sharakhli, Al-Malki, Al-Faraj and Al-Shahrani. The Mexicans played better than the Poles in the first round of the World Cup, but it had no effect on the scoreline in a game that ended in a draw. In the second round, Martino's team took the field against a furious Argentina and stood up to their opponent at a decent level for a long time. That said, Messi's genius and the higher class of the Argentine team played their part, resulting in a 0-2 defeat to Mexico. The North American representative will be without Guardado for the match against Saudi Arabia. The class of Saudi Arabia showed itself in the game against the Poles. With good discipline and physical readiness, the team makes mistakes that are unacceptable at the world level. Mexico are much stronger and do not deserve to leave the tournament with zero in the win column.