Sometimes having the best player on the pitch isn’t enough. Just ask Argentina. Despite being captained by Lionel Messi, the country’s…
Sometimes having the best player on the pitch isn’t enough. Just ask Argentina.
Despite being captained by Lionel Messi, the country’s World Cup campaign is on life support following a humiliating 3-0 loss to Croatia on Wednesday.
After an entertaining, back-and-forth first half, Argentina fell apart following a horrific mistake by goalkeeper Willy Caballero in the 53rd minute. The keeper under-hit a chip pass to his defender, setting up Croatian winger Ante Rebic for a stunning volley finish unlikely to be forgotten anytime soon — not so much for his technique, but for the flub that preceded it.
Argentina lost its way after the blunder, struggling to create even a half-chance over the next 27 minutes, their defenders spending more time on the ball than any of their four forwards. It was at that point that Croatian midfielder Luka Modric put things out of reach once and for all, scoring a wondrous goal from 25 yards out. But Croatia wasn’t done, scoring a messy goal in stoppage time to really pile on the shame.
What’s worse is, unlike Portugal, Argentina are not a one-man team. While this isn’t the best side the country has thrown out in recent years, it features plenty of talent, including four of the world’s best forwards — Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala — who at one point were all on the field at the same time. But as manager Jorge Sampaoli showed throughout World Cup qualification, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with his embarrassment of offensive riches, or even how to get the ball to them, and right now it looks like that will cost the team dearly.
Hope isn’t completely lost for Argentina. If Iceland don’t defeat Nigeria tomorrow, they’ll still have a chance going into the final game of the group stage. But with how bad Nigeria looked on Saturday against Croatia, Argentina and their fans shouldn’t hold their breath.
The goal everyone will remember from Croatia’s defeat of Argentina, will be the first — an all-time howler from Willy Caballero — but Luka Modric’s goal to finally put the game out of reach was a true beauty. The pint-sized midfielder ran onto the ball from five yards outside the box in the 80th minute and lashed home a strike that even competent keeper wouldn’t have been able to keep out.
Brazil vs. Costa Rica, 8 a.m.
Brazil didn’t exactly look bad in their draw with Switzerland on Sunday, but they also looked like a team without a plan. If they want to challenge for the Cup, they’re going to have to figure things out quickly and against an unspectacular Costa Rica side would be a good time to start.
Nigeria vs. Iceland, 11 a.m.
While Argentina still have a slim chance of making the Round of 16, things will get a lot tougher if Iceland beat a Nigeria team that looked like one of the tournament’s worst against Croatia on Saturday.
Serbia vs. Switzerland, 2 p.m.
After Switzerland held Brazil to a draw on Sunday, Group E is more wide open than anyone was expecting. The winner of this matchup will give their chances of qualifying for the next round a valuable boost.
