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BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Argentina has returned to a three-man attack consisting of Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero in its World Cup match against Iran on Saturday.
Coach Alejandro Sabella started with a more defensive lineup with only two strikers in Argentina's 2-1 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Group F opener.
He then changed to a 4-3-3 formation in the second half — a system favored by Messi — and he's continuing with that lineup at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte.
Argentina will play with Fernando Gago, Javier Mascherano and Angel Di Maria in the midfield and a four-man defense, meaning Hugo Campagnaro, who started against Bosnia, has been dropped.
Iran coach Carlos Queiroz made one change to the team he fielded in the 0-0 draw against Nigeria, bringing in forward Masoud Shojaei for midfielder Khosro Heydari in what could be a more attacking formation.
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Lineups:
Argentina: Sergio Romero, Pablo Zabaleta, Ezequiel Garay, Fernando Gago, Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain, Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano, Marcos Rojo, Federico Fernandez, Sergio Aguero.
Iran: Alireza Haghighi, Jalal Hosseini, Amirhossein Sadeghi, Pejman Montazeri, Ehsan Haji Safi, Javad Nekounam (captain), Andranik Teymourian, Mehrdad Pooladi, Ashkan Dejagah, Masoud Shojaei, Reza Ghoochannejhad.
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