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#pounditThursday, March 28, 2024

Argentina player denies widespread reports of rift with manager

To say that the Argentina camp at the World Cup is in a sorry state is probably an understatement.

On Sunday, defender Javier Mascherano was forced to deny a flurry of reports indicating that manager Jorge Sampaoli had lost the confidence of the team after their crushing 3-0 defeat to Croatia last week.

Despite Mascherano’s denial, reports of a massive rift between Sampaoli and his players have been widespread. One that was widely shared on Sunday came from Spanish outlet Vavel, which reported that Sampaoli had completely lost the squad and they were picking their own team for Tuesday’s crucial match against Nigeria.

It’s not hard to see where the reports are coming from, either, as forward Sergio Aguero reacted angrily to comments Sampaoli made after the Croatia defeat indicating that the team failed to offer Lionel Messi adequate support.

There were even rumors that Sampaoli would be fired before the Nigeria game and that the players were pushing for that solution. Whatever the case, that obviously did not come to pass.

While cutting out horrible individual blunders like this one would probably solve a lot of problems, it’s hard to deny that there’s something off in the Argentina camp. They need to get it together — despite their horrible start to the World Cup, they have not yet been eliminated, and can still make it to the knockout rounds as long as they beat Nigeria and results elsewhere go their way.

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