World Cup schedule day three: France vs Australia before Argentina vs Iceland, Peru vs Denmark and Croatia vs Nigeria

AFP/Getty Images
Standard Sport16 June 2018

If you had feared a slow start to the World Cup this summer, those concerns have well and truly dissipated.

After hosts Russia bagged five against Saudi Arabia on Thursday, Friday night brought one of the eye-catchers of the group stages, and Spain vs Portugal did not disappoint, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s late freekick securing a point, and a hat-trick, in Sochi.

Now the tournament is well and truly up and running, and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Here is the schedule for day three in Russia…

Group C

Group C P W D L F A Pts
France 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Peru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Denmark 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

France vs Australia | Kazan Arena | 11.00am | BBC One

Antoine Griezmann could light up this tournament. The Atletico Madrid forward arrives at the finals as one of the best players in the world and French hopes could rest with him, though Didier Deschamps also needs Paul Pogba back to his best. Australia are optimistic they can finish above Peru and Denmark in Group C but this will be a tough opener for Bert van Marwijk’s men.

Peru vs Denmark | Mordovia Arena | 5.00pm | BBC One

Christian Eriksen is carrying Denmark’s hopes on his shoulders and his form will be key to their chances of reaching the knockout stage for the first time since 2002. Peru, at their first World Cup in 36 years, will be led by captain Paolo Guerrero after he had a doping ban overturned in a Swiss court last week. The striker had been suspended after testing positive for cocaine contained in a tea he drank.

Group D

Group D P W D L F A Pts
Argentina 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Iceland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Croatia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nigeria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Argentina vs Iceland | Otkrytiye Arena | 2.00pm | ITV

Lionel Messi will be 35 when the World Cup is held in Qatar in 2022 so realistically it is now or never for the Barcelona star on the grandest stage. His bid to lead Argentina to the ultimate prize begins against Iceland, the smallest nation ever to qualify for the finals and the side who conquered England at Euro 2016. Argentina only just made it to Russia after a poor qualifying campaign and their opening game could determine whether they are serious contenders to win the tournament. All eyes will be on Messi and his supporting cast.

Croatia vs Nigeria | Kaliningrad Stadium | 8.00pm | ITV

Croatia, with Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, could be one of the surprise packages in Russia. Nigerian expectations have been raised after a recent friendly victory against Argentina and Alex Iwobi and Victor Moses will make them a threat.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in