Waching daily Jun 28 2018

The opening match of the Knockout Stage of the 2018 World Cup will soon kick off in spectacular fashion

France is set to take on Lionel Messi and Argentina as the high-stakes single-elimination round of the tournament soon begins

After scraping through the Group Stage, Argentina will face a tough challenge from France's young, balanced squad, who dominated their group to advance with little trouble

Here's all you need to know about when the match is on, where it will take place, how to watch, key players to watch and what the current match odds are

The upcoming France vs Argentina match will take place on Saturday, June 30 at 10am EST

The match will be held at Kazan Arena in Kazan, Russia. In the United States, World Cup fans can watch on Fox and Fox Sports One

Livestreaming will also be available on fuboTV. Those looking to see the match in the United Kingdom can catch all the action on ITV One and ITV One HD

Livestreaming will be available on ITV Hub. For Argentina, the man to watch is once again Lionel Messi

The Barcelona star is heating up, scoring his first goal of the 2018 World Cup against Nigeria in his squad's last match

If he can carry his hot streak into the upcoming match against France, he'll pose a serious threat against France's defense

On the French side, Kylian Mbappe is thought to be a key player to watch. The 19-year-old Paris Saint-Germain forward already has one goal to his name in the Group Stages and will look to utilize his speed and agility to cut through Argentine's defense and lead the attack alongside other stars like Antoine Griezmann

France are currently believed to have a clear edge in the upcoming match. Both teams took dramatically different paths to reach the upcoming Knockout Stage of the tournament

France breezed through the Group Stage, defeating Australia and Peru while drawing against Denmark and surrendering just one goal along the way

Argentina, meanwhile, appeared dead in the water after a shocking draw against Iceland and a crushing defeat from Croatia before finally rallying in their final match to beat Nigeria in a thriller and advance to the next round in dramatic fashion

There's no doubt that Argentina, despite its lackluster earlier performance, is stacked with talent, especially when it comes to Lionel Messi

But their aging players and underwhelming earlier performance is likely a bad omen against a team as dominant as France

The French squad is packed with talented young players like N'golo Kante, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe, while established stars like Antoine Griezmann remain a scoring threat

Most oddmakers believe that the team's unique combination of speed, agility and balance should be more than enough to overcome the Argentinians despite the presence of Messi on the pitch

Per Odds Checker, France currently has 13/10 odds to win while Argentina is pegged at 27/10