France - Argentina is the kind of match-up that every fan dreams of, and when the two teams meet on the sands of Rio on Wednesday, a quarter-final berth for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2007 will be the prize for the winner. For the loser, it will be time to head for home...

The match
France - Argentina, Wednesday 7 November, 09:30 (local time)

The stakes
Both teams lost to the tournament's surprise package Nigeria, meaning that France and Argentina are in a virtual play-off to see who goes through to the next round. Les Bleus are one of the title favourites and were certainly not banking on playing knock-out football this early in the tournament.

Morale in the Argentinian camp, on the other hand, is high. After losing their opening match to the African champions, they got back to winning ways against a United Arab Emirates team which had previously pushed France all the way. Hector Petrasso's men may be outsiders for Wednesday's game but they will be quite happy to be the underdogs.

The players
France will have a full squad to choose from while the South Americans will have to do without Federico Hilaire who was cautioned twice against United Arab Emirates.

The past
The two teams met in the 2005 tournament, with France running out 8-2 winners on their way to winning the trophy.

The words
We know what we've got to do against Argentina, but beach soccer has come on in leaps and bounds and winning has become a lot more difficult. - Eric Cantona, France coach

I hope that it will be a really close match against France, who are a real powerhouse in beach soccer. We will have to keep a close eye on Didier Samoun. - Hector Petrasso, Argentina coach