Argentina have played Mexico on 23 previous occasions and they have won eight, drawn 11 and lost four. They won 6-3 in the inaugural World Cup in 1930. This is their only meeting in the competition finals.

A year ago, Argentina beat Mexico 6-5 in a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup. In a match in which Javier Saviola (Argentina) and Rafael Marquez (Mexico) were red-carded, Argentine Esteban Cambiasso converted the deciding penalty after Mexico defender Ricardo Osorio had missed.

Argentina:
Argentina won Group C without a defeat with eight goals scored and one conceded. They have not lost in four World Cup matches, and kept clean sheets in the last two.

Argentina are taking part in their 14th World Cup. Only Brazil, Germany and Italy have participated more often. Their best performances came in 1978 and 1986 when they won the title.

Mexico:
Mexico are competing in their 13th World Cup. Their best ever result is reaching the quarter-finals in 1970 and 1986. Mexico hosted the tournament in both years.

No country has lost more World Cup matches than Mexico (21), but they have reached at least the last 16 in their last four appearances in the finals. The last time Mexico failed to negotiate the group phase was in 1978.

Player facts - Argentina
Roberto Abbondanzieri, Roberto Ayala and Javier Mascherano are yet to miss a minute of these finals. Six different players have scored one goal.

Ayala won his 103rd cap in the last group match and is now just three away from his country’s record of 106 held by Diego Simeone.

Player facts - Mexico
Midfielder Luis Perez is suspended for this match after receiving two yellow cards in the last group match against Portugal. Perez’ dismissal means Mexico has now had at least one player sent off in their last four World Cup participations.

Omar Bravo, Rafael Marquez, Ricardo Osorio, Pavel Pardo, Carlos Salcido and Oswaldo Sanchez are yet to miss a minute of this tournament in Germany. Claudio Suarez is Mexico’s most capped player with 178 international matches. Only Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Mohamed Al Deayea has won more caps (181) in world football.

Miscellaneous Info
Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Rafael Marquez (Mexico) could face each other in this match, as could Villarreal’s Guillermo Franco (Mexico) and Juan Pablo Sorin and Juan Riquelme (both Argentina).

The winner of this match will take on Germany or Sweden in the quarter-finals which will be played on Friday, 30 June in Berlin.

Big Match Stats source: Infostrada Sports