Messi, Blunders, Selection: What’s Wrong With Argentina This WC?

Here’s a look at what has gone wrong for Argentina in the FIFA World Cup.

Argentina recorded their worst start at the FIFA World Cup since the 1974 campaign after facing a heavy defeat of 0-3 to Croatia in a Group D match on Thursday. In the last 10 World Cup campaigns, Argentina have managed to record at least one win in their first two group matches. But this time, they have drawn against Iceland and lost to Croatia.

The loss against Croatia is the biggest Argentina have faced in the group stages since the 6-1 drubbing they received at the hands of Czechoslovakia in 1958.

Now, the blue and white striped shirts will have to hope for Iceland to lose or draw both their remaining group games, provided Argentina beat Nigeria in their last group game. Then they will be able to move to the round of 16.

Argentina last failed to move to the next round in the 2002 World Cup.

‘Messi Factor’

It’s an open secret that if Argentina have to perform as a team, then Lionel Messi has to be at his best. Unfortunately, that has not been the case in this World Cup. The 30-year-old has not scored a goal in his last five World Cup games, which is a total of 647 minutes.

Interestingly, he has recorded the most number of attempts in this World Cup so far – 12 – but zero goals. Out of the 12 shots, 11 were made against Iceland.

The forward had a great chance to clinch three points for Argentina when they were given a penalty shot in the match against Iceland. But, Messi struck the ball at the perfect height for goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson to save a goal.

Interestingly, Messi was hardly in the picture when Argentina went down to Croatia. He had only 20 touches in the first half and recorded his only shot of the match in the 64th minute.

In total, Messi recorded 49 touches in the match, out of which only two were in Croatia’s box.

Glaring Blunders

Argentina have conceded four goals in the tournament so far and at least two of those goals could have been avoided.

Argentina’s goalkeeper Willy Caballero literally gifted the first goal to Croatia. He was trying to chip the ball to Gabriel Mercado, but he mistakenly lofted the ball for Ante Rebic to hammer it into the goal in the 52nd minute.

During injury time, Caballero saved a shot from Ivan Rakitic. The ball deflected off the keeper’s hands to Mateo Kovacic, who passed it back to Rakitic. When Rakitic was all set to score, there were three Croatian players against one Argentine! When the goal was completed, there were four Argentine players standing behind Rakitic, who showed no interest in stopping the goal.

Questionable Selection

Many were not happy with Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli’s decision to leave out Mauro Icardi out of the 23-man squad even though he was the joint-top goalscorer in Serie A with 29 goals for Inter Milan.

Juventus' Paulo Dybala has started both the games from the bench, even after scoring 22 goals in Serie A.

Dybala replaced Enzo Perez in the 68th minute in the match against Croatia, but couldn’t find a way to change his team’s fortunes. Earlier in the match, Perez had chance to put Argentina in the lead, but struck the ball wide of the right post.

In the 55th minute, Sampaoli took a strange decision to bring in Gonzalo Higuain instead of Sergio Aguero – the one player who has scored for Argentina in this World Cup so far.

Non-Preferred Formation for Messi

Jorge Sampaoli decided to play a formation which would have three defenders instead of four in the match against Croatia. Argentina fielded a 3-4-2-1 formation at the start of the match. But, the three-defender formation is not preferred by Lionel Messi. He had voiced his concerns when Luis Enrique tried to implement the strategy at Barcelona.

As the match progressed, Javier Mascherano moved to defense to help the other three players, while Dybala, Cristian Pavon, Messi and Higuain stayed in the forward line. As a result, the team was split into forwards and defenders without a midfield.

I think Argentina made it so easy for them. They were a broken team, they were playing five attackers and five defenders. If you are a midfielder, this is exactly what you want, you have so much time, space, you can keep the ball, you can do whatever you want. It felt sometimes that Argentina were not playing for each other, they were playing against each other.

Cesc Fabregas, 2010 World Cup Winner With Spain

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