The pressure will be on both Argentina and South Africa as they take to the field for their second matches in Group G on Friday. Both nations kicked off the Women’s World Cup with defeats, meaning that only a win this week will keep alive their hopes of progression.
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South Africa and Argentina will both be licking their wounds after unlucky defeats in their opening matches in Group G. In truth, the current standings in the group could have been flipped on their heads had both Argentina and South Africa took their chances in their opening matches against Italy and Sweden, respectively.
South Africa threw everything that they had against Sweden in their opening match, and deservedly took the lead after 48 minutes following Hidah Magaia’s strike. The African nation has suffered defeats in each of their four matches at the World Cup, and they have opened the scoring in half of those matches. Holding onto leads is the big question that they face coming into this second match, but they will be confident that a first World Cup win is getting closer.
Argentina was also extremely unlucky in their opening match at the World Cup, as Italy netted their winner with just three minutes of the 90 remaining. However, the European nation did have two efforts ruled out earlier in the match after VAR intervention.
The defeat was the tenth match that Argentina have played at the World Cup, and they are still waiting for a victory after losing on eight occasions and being held to two draws. Argentina will need to be more disciplined in their second match having made 16 fouls to contribute to 36 in total across the 90 minutes; the most in any match at the 2023 Women’s World Cup to this point.
Argentina vs South Africa Head to Head
This will be the first meeting between the two nations. It is also the first time that South Africa will come up against a South American nation at the World Cup. It will also be the first time that Argentina comes up against an African nation at the competition.
Argentina vs South Africa Prediction
This is a really challenging match to call in Group G, as both sides were extremely unlucky in their opening match. We could see a low-scoring draw being played out between the nations on Friday morning.
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