Argentina in crisis :

Pretty much agree with this analysis, basically putting Messi on par with Aguero means that you need a brain in midlefield, Argentina mid only play safe balls, getting them back again and again or throwing them to the flank. Horrendous game to watch from a Liga fan, when a team is eaten tactically they have only their eyes to cry.result was fair and could have been worse if Croatian scored all their chances in first half.

Frustrating game from Messi, you blame a player if he misses easy chances, misses clear passes, responsible for conceding a goal, can you blame him for not making a miracle ? only if he is named Messi...

Now for such players, they cant escape responsibility being all at their backs reason why if i was him i would kick anyone asses on the squad and ask the coach to line up offensive team no matter what problems they have at the back, only thing i question on Messi is his leading aptitudes, okay players like him can be leaders just with a ball but here in term of communication he should have activated the commandant role, his body language in the second half wasnt helping even if few things he could do would avoid the mess.

I think we will do just enough to qualify. Because the talent is there and whenever the whole teams decides to start playing they can be pretty good. Obviously Nigeria is coming out very hard against us to secure their spot.

If we do qualify, France is going to beat us pretty easily so we are going home pretty early regardless.

I think they will qualify. By all reports there is problems in the dressing rooms in regards to Sampaoli on how he has used/not used certain players.

nigeria will win and it will be the best thing that could happen to argentina. they'll finally realize that there needs to be change. can't wait for the retirement announcements from 6-7 players.

@Gonzi

can't wait for the retirement announcements from 6-7 players

Mind sharing who you want out in particular?

masche, biglia, rojo, di maria, enzo. Both higuain and aguero are absolute class, but age wise, they need to make way for the next generation. i have nothing to say about messi, he's world class, he'll always be welcome the NT no matter what happens. Soon lautaro martinez will be spoken of the same way people speak about aguero. absolute world beater. and maybe finally they'll be able to introduce some well needed midfield, like past argentina national teams. let's see what lo celso, kranevitter, paredes and ascacibar can do.

Caballero will probably never play for Argentina again. Romero might go as well. I could see a couple more stepping down just because the Argentine media is relentless when it comes to the national team.

My unpopular opinion is that they will get saved again by Messi, in a World Cup they should never qualified for. Then will loose on 1/8 or quarters maximum. And then let Messi focus on winning us champions league please, the international break costed as the game Vs Roma and a possible treble...
It has become impossible to have such poor management and then rely on individual brilliance to win a World Cup... I mean the nations they chose for preparation, Spain, Israel, WTF. The coaches they had since 2006, they even got Diego as a coach for a World Cup...
Sampaoli has been weakened to the max, Israel scandal, getting uncapped players directly in the most difficult compain of this sport, we don’t know half of the starters if you ask me I can’t even tell you in which position they should play. Ending up with Salvio-Acuna in the wings with 3 Cbs and Mascerano playing somewhere in China...
Federation has 50% responsibility for the results, they look untouched in Argentina.
Actually if Messi was Brazilian it wouldn’t be even a discussion, because Argentina has become a 2nd tier nation due to their federation management.
In 2014, they scored Vs Bosnia at 85th, individual brilliance, against Iran in 93th, individual brilliace...
Federation should stop hiding under one player and admit their incompetence.

I think Argentina will go through... Messi will save the day...

Back to my other post and discussion, I have been saying how crap this team is and only with decent striker, without proper mid... striker would be completely cut off...

If messi is underperform which he has, Argentina has very little chance... They have to acknowledge that they are crap and adapt the right tactic

I hope the whole team pull themselves together and get through this..

Argentina has a chance (thanks to that one point against Iceland), but if they carried any dignity themselves, they should take a stand against the Argentina FA and intentionally bottle themselves out of this World Cup. There's always a next time for a lot of these lads, Messi included.

There's always a next time for a lot of these lads, Messi included.

doubt..

doubt..

There is, but no way would Messi end his international career without the WC. He's simply too good to retire, and it doesn't mean he'll be playing regularly if he was to be picked for the next WC campaign, but him retiring without giving it another shot is simply asinine

Messi's face before kick off

Honestly speaking these Messi haters are annoying, it does not help when whole country is against the team, especially main person Messi. When Maradona is defending Messi, it says a lot because this guy is known to be very critical of players. Copa America 2016 he said don't come back with a loss. Messi after hard hard performance missed pk, the pressure just got to him. Anyways I don't like Argentina and their press.

Also if I'm being honest I would not care about Argentina going through or not because they have been poor, only reason I want them to go through in the first place is because of this genius named Messi. Man if only he picked Spain, he would not get so abused, but I totally understand his choice

Sorry if I sounded rude here btw, it was not my intention at all.

It's problem with team but also Messi. It's obvious Messi should have done much better but other players couldn't create any real team action or good forward pass. Honestly as @Gonzi said, I believe that whole team should start from the bottom. Argentina always produces good talents and some of those I watched are truly excellent. There's no point to continue with these player for next WC/Copa America cyclus (same situation in Italy), they need to get younger players in the team and make them all feel like one.

Messi is a top man and I don’t see how anyone can talk crap about him when he plays for Barcelona but for Argentina I can understand all the crap talk.

For the sake of Argentina and Football, Nigeria must win and do Messi a favor of saving him from another match of embarrassment against France.

You know guys. I remember when France was barely qualifying to WC 2006 ( they were complete crap) and they called ( maybe even begged) Zidane to come out of retirement ( age 35) to help them get through to final tournament and the rest you all know what happened. My point is all this excuses for Messi to me are silly because great players they pull their teams up no matter who plays around them. I don’t have to put a list here but you all know who are those players and they aren’t even contested for title of the GOAT.

Ronaldo missed a penatly tonight, great players might require some time to turn on and really be decisive. Hope Messi will turn on against Nigeria or else he will prove that he is useless in the national team.

They will sneak through but run into better teams right away. Wish the federation would fix their issues. Not a good cup when the bigger teams are out or not playing well.

One of the respected jurnalists Liberman have said that Argentina's players can't leave the table where they eat together as long as Messi is still sitting, Sampaoli listened to Messi when it comes to squad selection and first 11 and then Messi goes in the game and walks around for 90 minutes less than the goalkeepers vs Croatia and gets his penalty saved from a part time fisherman part time movie director vs Island, for someone that takes pics with goats he is doing a Lebron James flop and will quickly end the discussion just like Lebron did with his bad attitude.

If Messi doesn't change he will ruin this team and get eliminated from the World Cup.

Bench Messi and play Dyabala