Argentina to take on France tonight

Sports Desk: Earning a last-gasp ticket to the Round of 16, Argentina arrived in Kazan, the industrial hub on the confluence of Volga and Kazanka, on the wings of a million prayers, desperate to repeat their coup, this time against the French.

The match is scheduled to start on 8:00pm (Bangladesh Time) on Saturday.

France, guided by their 1998 World Cup-winning captain Didier Deschamps, cruised to the Round of 16, rather relaxed, but their placidity has led to a lot of criticism back home.

On the contrary, Jorge Sampaoli just about managed to pull Argentina through to the knockout stage - in the face of rumours of getting sacked, player rebellion and "fighting for reality against the virtual". Lionel Messi finally shed his cloak of despair for factory overalls and Marcus Rojo's 86th-minute winner carved Argentina's passage to Kazan.

Despite having attracted unappetizing headlines back home, the easily-distracted Frenchmen have not lost the desire to fight and look unusually focused. Leave alone unrest, not even a word of whining has emerged from the French fortress. Samuel Umtiti, Messi's Barcelona club mate, said: "We're working to improve, to play a bit better, because we can do it. But the most important thing will be to win, because if we go all the way, even if most people are not pleased by our football, everybody will be happy and we won't hear any more that the football was lacking."

Source: Agencies
 

risingbd/Dhaka/June 30, 2018/A K Azad