2018 FIFA World Cup Group Stage Draw: Argentina drawn in Group of Death
The 2018 FIFA World Cup draw for the Group Stage was held at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia today and it threw up some interesting encounters.
Legends and World Cup winners such as Diego Maradona, Laurent Blanc, Cafu, and Carles Puyol were involved in the drawing of the balls as Gary Lineker oversaw proceedings while explaining the process.
The teams from Pot 1 were drawn first with Russia taking the first spot in Group A as the host nation. Balls were first drawn for each team and then the position in each group to decide which teams would play in each fixture in the group.
The first match of the 2018 World Cup will see hosts Russia take on Saudi Arabia in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium on 14 June 2018 at 18:00 local time.
The toughest group is arguably Group D with Argentina drawn with Iceland (who kncoked out England at Euro 2016), Croatia (who reached the Euro 2016 knockout stages), and Nigeria.
This is the first time Iceland have qualified for the World Cup finals and their first opponent will be none other than Lionel Messi's Argentina. The country of Iceland has a population of approximately 330,000 people - roughly 10% of that of Argentina's capitaly city Buenos Aires.
However, Nigeria are familiar opponents for Argentina. This will be the fifth time they are facing each other at a World Cup after facing each other in 1994, 2002, 2010, and 2014. Argentina won on all four occasions but recently lost to Nigeria in a friendly match.
Meanwhile, European neighbours Spain and Portugal were drawn in the same group. The teams from the Iberian Peninsula will also face off in the first fixture in Group B.
Spain and Portugal have played against each other as many as 38 times (in all competitions). Spain also kncoked them out of the 2010 World Cup on their way to the trophy.
Only two groups have all four teams from four different continents - Group A (Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Uruguay) and Group H (Poland, Senegal, Colombia, and Japan).