Well, the first “latino” clash, the match should show why we love their style of playing.

Colours for the game
Argentina: Sky blue and white shirts, black shorts and white socks.
Mexico: Green shirts, white shorts and red socks

The teams
After tinkering with his line-up against Netherlands, coach Jose Pekerman is expected to revert to the team with started the competition. Pekerman should stick with his favoured 4-4-2 formation, although first-choice right-back Nicolas Burdisso is likely to miss the match after suffering a minor knee injury. One of Leandro Cufre, Fabricio Coloccini or Lionel Scaloni will be stepping into his shoes.

At the sharp end of the Argentine attack, Pekerman is expected to keep faith with the Hernan Crespo-Javier Saviola double act, despite classy performances from Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez against the Serbians and the Dutch.

Mexico coach Ricardo La Volpe is set to stick with a 3-4-1-2 formation, although changes are expected in the starting XI. The defence is to be reshuffled, with FC Barcelona’s Rafael Marquez dropping back into the centre of defence in place of Francisco Rodriguez. In midfield, Gabriel Torrado is almost certain to return alongside Pavel Pardo.

There are doubts surrounding the name of the player who will play in the hole behind the front two, with Franco and Omar Bravo both competing for the role. In attack, Jared Borgetti is almost certain to return and play alongside Francisco Fonseca, a scorer against Portugal.

The duel
Hernan Crespo v Oswaldo Sanchez
The well-travelled Argentine striker scored in the first two games he played, and also displayed an uncanny knack for picking out team-mates in dangerous positions. His intuition and unerring eye for a goalscoring opportunity make him a key figure in Pekerman’s side.

Out to prevent the Chelsea striker from continuing his rich vein of form will be one of the safest pairs of hands in the tournament. Ever alert and ready for action, Mexico’s gifted shotstopper Sanchez has been in superb form this far. In the opening match against a dangerous Iran side, Sanchez pulled off a truly spectacular early stop from a Vahid Hashemian header to keep the scores level. If the Mexican keeper is as inspired on the night as he was on that occasion, he could become a major headache for Crespo and Co.

Past meetings
Argentina and Mexico have met only once at the FIFA World Cup finals. That match took place in the first round at Uruguay 1930, and ended with 6-3 win for the Albiceleste.

The last time the two teams faced each other was a recent encounter on German soil, at the semi-final stage of last year’s FIFA Confederations Cup. That match ended in a 1-1 draw, with Argentina snatching a win on penalties.

For a complete history of the two teams’ matches, click here

What they think Roberto AYALA (ARG): “It’s certainly not going to be easy. Mexico are tough opponents who have caused us problems recently. Our matches against them are like derbies between club sides, it doesn’t matter how either team got here, the only thing that counts is what happens on the day.”

Rafael MARQUEZ (MEX): “I’m not in the slightest bit concerned, we’ve got a great mentality and a lot of character in this side and we can take a lot of positives from our performances thus far. Even if the ball looks like its never going to go in the net, we just have to keep battling away to turn things around. We hope things work out for us against Argentina.”

Source: WCoffsite