体坛英语新闻：Argentina readies for Iran match

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Argentina's national team prepared Friday to hand Iran a decisive blow in their Saturday match and qualify for the second round of the 2014 World Cup.

Coach Alejandro Sabella modified his tactics, after Argentina's weak win over Bosnia in its debut game of the championship sparked criticism back home.

His initial 5-3-2 lineup on the field changed to 4-3-3, as the players requested in the second half of the Bosnia match.

"It's going to be a difficult game and I believe that if you give any rival room to play, it can complicate the match, that's why we have to dominate from the start against Iran," star footballer Lionel Messi said.

Meanhile, Iran's national team, coached by Portuguese Carlos Queiroz, will try to do its best to stay alive, aware of the traditional superiority of the South American team.

Iran, which played Nigeria to a 0-0 draw in its debut match, is set to play Bosnia in its third and last game of the initial group phase.

"We have to enjoy and follow the instructions of our trainer to the letter," Iran forward Reza Ghoochannejhad said. "We have absolutely nothing to lose in this game. Argentina is one of the favorites to win the title, and that's something that you can't say about us. All the pressure is on them and we have to show all our capability, as we did against Nigeria."

Argentina and Iran have only played each other once before: March 22, 1977, as part of the 75th Anniversary Cup of Real Madrid, in Spain's capital. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, but Argentina went on to win in a post-game tie breaker.

The possible lineups for Saturday:

Argentina: Sergio Romero; Pablo Zabaleta, Ezequiel Garay, Federico Fernandez, Marcos Rojo; Fernando Gago, Javier Mascherano, Angel Di Maria; Sergio Aguero, Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain. Coach: Alejandro Sabella.

Iran: Alireza Haghighi; Pejman Montazeri, Seyed Hosseini, Amir Sadeghi and Mehrdad Pooladi; Khosro Heydari, Andranik Timotian, Javad Nekounam and Ehsan Haji Safi; Ashkan Dejagah and Reza Ghoochannejhad. Coach: Carlos Queiroz.

Referee: Serbian Milorad Mazic.

Match time: 1 pm local time (16:00 GMT).

Location: Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte.