ARGENTINA COACH JORGE Sampaoli admitted his side were “emotionally broken” after conceding the first goal in their 3-0 defeat by Croatia which left their World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.
The two-time world champions need to beat Nigeria in their final Group D match on Tuesday and for other results to go their way to have any chance of reaching the last 16, after Willy Caballero’s dreadful error allowed Ante Rebic to send Croatia on their way to victory and into the knockout stage.
“I am the one who needs to make the final decisions on these things. The key to our defeat lies with my responsibility,” said Sampaoli.
“I had to devise a plan for this match. If I had set things up differently, things might have turned out much better. I don’t think it’s realistic to put the burden on Caballero.
“I thought that we were going to put a lot of pressure on Croatia and put a lot of pressure on them in their part of the pitch. But after they scored we were emotionally broken and we didn’t have any footballing arguments to change the course of events.”
Sampaoli only took over last year, becoming Argentina’s fourth coach in as many years.
They only just qualified for the tournament in Russia, as a Lionel Messi hat-trick sealed victory in their final match of South American qualifying in Ecuador.
The Barcelona great has been a peripheral figure so far in Russia though, while his old rival Cristiano Ronaldo has scored four goals in two games for Portugal.
But former Chile boss Sampaoli says that Messi’s struggles are more down to the quality of his team-mates.
“I think Cristiano is a great player, you can look at all he has achieved for his club and his country,” said the 58-year-old.
“Right now we shouldn’t compare these two players. The reality of the Argentina squad clouds Leo’s brilliance. He is limited because the team doesn’t gel with him as it should. We as coaches need to realise these things and try to deal with them and I’m the one that needs to accept it.”
Argentina, who are looking to lift the trophy for the first time since the Diego Maradona-inspired glory of 1986, haven’t been knocked out in the group stage since finishing behind England and Sweden in 2002.
But even victory over Nigeria may not be enough, especially after two late strikes from Croatia midfielders Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic left them with a poor goal difference of -3
“When you don’t have momentum it’s very difficult to move forward. Some of the players didn’t manage to play with my system,” accepted Sampaoli.
“I’m very hurt by this defeat, but I probably didn’t set up my team in the right way.
“We need to take advantage of this last (group) match, we need to fight for it and hope to get into the next stage.”
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Not starting some of your best players doesn’t help
@Conor Mc Nally: or not even having in them in the squad – Icardi.
@Ardmore02: Pastore
Funny how all the excuses in the world is made for Messi
@Jim: Funny how the CR7 fan boys (you) always aim at Messi when Argentina lose.
@Colo J: ‘All the CR7 fanboys’…
CR7… would you listen to yourself? Messi has been invisible at this World Cup, that’s a basic fact but that’s ok because he’s still the ‘best player in the world’ because, you know..Barcelona…
@An Observer2: invisible? That’s funny. Ronaldo was invisible at the last world cup but let’s forget about that because only Messi is bad for his country.
@Colo J: It’s an article about Messi he was not the worst player on the pitch but didn’t help his cause with his attitude sick of the excuses for him he had a look of a man who didn’t want to be there before the kick off
@Colo J: Messi hasnt for Barcelona in Europe either in the last 3 years sure he can score 4 goals against Girona but where was he in the CL quarter final when Roma won 3-0
@Jim: He was great in Europe up until they got knocked out by Roma but of course you’ll only jump out of the closet when he has bad performances
@Colo J: Are we talking about the last World Cup here?
@Jim: jaysus lad take the night off, for a player you obviously dislike you sure spend a lot of time writing about him
@Max Power: Adding balance against those who put up shite about Ronaldo all the time
Messi is a great player who is playing on a very average team. They couldn’t string five passes together. It wouldn’t matter if Ronaldo was on that team. Croatia are a dark horse and are quite a solid outfit. The tournament started out good but there have been many poor matches so far.
@Tony Boyle: Exactly
@Tony Boyle: ronaldos leadership skills would play a part. Something Messi lacks in abundance, I’ve never seen him say anything on a pitch. Now I’ve seen Ronaldo birrate ppl Roy Keane style…. I wonder where he got that from !!
@Crpytoalchol: leadership skills?!!
@Thomas O’ Donnell: yes mate. Look up what he says to moutihno before a penalty shootout in the euros. Inspiring!!
We can argue til the end of time over who’s the greatest ever (it’s Messi by the way) but the the fact of the matter is that Argentina team tonight, aside from Messi and Aguero, is probably the worst to grace a World Cup. Portugal, on the other hand, are limited but much more organised and have the second best player of all time in their ranks. Messi is a million miles off his best at this world cup but, lest we forget Messi won the Golden Ball in 2014, reached the final and Ronaldo went home after the group stages. It’s all swings and roundabouts.
@Eoin McCarthy: Messi showed this evening why he isn’t the greatest ever no love for his country. If you want to see the greatest ever watch his fellow countryman drag Argentina to being world cup champions in 1986.
@Eoin McCarthy: were are the facts?
@Eoin McCarthy: bullshit Maradona was better than messi.
@Young Angus: The 86 Argentina team was far better than this team overall. Maradona had defenders behind him who could defend and midfielders who could actually get the ball to him. People tend not to know this when they’ve only seen clips of the QF against England from that world cup. Maradona is one of the greats but was not the legend he is now until after that world cup. Messi was the best player in the world at 22 and has been there with Ronaldo ever since.
@Eoin McCarthy: until now. Ronaldo has taken the throne as the G.O.A.T. they have had a ding dong battle trying to out do each other for a decade, which was thrilling. But Messi has no answer for ronaldos latest flurry, and at the biggest stage. There are fine margins between them. But at 33, ronaldos once flaw (arrogance) is now one of his differentiators. He is the G.O.A.T
@Eoin McCarthy: Messi has been a million miles off his best for years, he peaked in 2012.
@Crpytoalchol: Ronaldo scored 4 goals in La Liga before Christmas and everyone thought he was finished. He scored 20 after Christmas and suddenly he’s the GOAT again even though Messi won La Liga and was top scorer and assist maker. CR is able to do it in the odd game here and there in the last year but Messi is the more consistent player, in my opinion.
@Eoin McCarthy: I accept your opinion. My opinion is, it’s been a ding dong between them for a decade. Tit for tat. Ronaldo has edged ahead over the last month and I don’t see how Messi can out do Ronaldo after this world cup, the WC has a lasting effect is too big for him not to show up. Unless he stays around for another WC or Copa and wins it with Argentina. Ronaldo has put himself in the driving position for now. I hope Messi does come back, that will inspire Ronaldo to up his game again. But at there ages something has to give.
@Eoin McCarthy: No doubt Messi will go down as the best club player of all time but I heard someone on the radio describe him this morning as “a test tube player’”. He can only perform under strict laboratory conditions i.e Barcelona. That is what will always hold him back from being regarded as the G.O.A.T.
However if and it’s a big if, that Ronaldo lifts the trophy on July 15th then the debate over who is the greatest between Messi and Ronaldo will have been decided once and for all.
He really needed to find a system/formation that could accommodate both Messi & Dybala.
Caballero has always been a back up keeper, all of a sudden he sees himself thrown in as first choice keeper for one of the favourites for the World Cup at 36 years of age, it was only going to end one way.
The joys of international football…one of the worlds best ever players and a usual sub keeper atarting in the same team
I feel sorry for him.. he deserves better.. but then I feel the arrogance that was once ronaldos downfall is now one of his biggest strenghts over messi. He is the man in that Portugal team the absolute leader, carrys that team.. wears that shirt on his sleeve.. …. I can’t say the same about Messi. Doesn’t have it in him. Quality quality player tho.
Argentina looked like a team of strangers on the pitch but I guess four managers in four years will do that to a team. Ironically, if Argentina are to improve as a team, they probably need to hold onto one of their coaches.
Ah lads can all the Messi and Ronaldo fanboys calm it down a bit.
Both are fantastic footballers in their own right and we should all enjoy watching them while we can.
As for greatest player ever well that is Diego, if ever one man won a world cup it was him in 86. Not to mention his time at Napoli
Yeno it doesn’t help when you replace aguero with the football equivalent of JR Smith
Nobody mentions Pele at all, surely he’s in the conversation for GOAT too! Over 1000 goals, won 3 world cups. At 17 in the 58 World Cup he scored a hat trick in the semis vs France and 2 in the final vs the host nation Sweden. Not to mention most of the opposition attempting GBH on him in every game with rarely a yellow card in sight! None of these lads have the international pedigree that he has…..
…… I believe that there is no GOAT just the greatest of their generation due to many different factors such as opposition, protection from refs, pitch quality, ball quality etc. Pele and Maradonna were the greatest of their respective eras. Messi and Ronaldo are the greatest of this current era so let’s wait for them to retire so that we can see what they’ve achieved and how they’ve gone about it before guessing at who’s the best….and in the mean time let’s savour both as fantastic players that we are lucky enough to watch on a regular basis
The 86 maradona team was nothing special apart from him. But they were well coached and got the best out of him as a result. This team look beyond redemption which is a tragedy for Messi.