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.
Mascherano confirmed during press conference that there is no rift aamong Argentina players and players have no problem with Sampaoli, at all. pic.twitter.com/dnIDMMSRw1
— Argentina Football (@ARG_soccernews) June 24, 2018
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.
Argentina players will decide the team for their game against Nigeria. The squad have broken their relation with Jorge Sampaoli and he's no longer making decisions.
— Mootaz Chehade (@MHChehade) June 24, 2018
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.
Sampaoli: "Because of the reality of the Argentine squad, it sort of clouds Messi’s brilliance. Leo Messi is limited because the team around him failed as they give him enough help "
A pissed off Aguero: "Let him say what he wants." pic.twitter.com/2myE6TrcPE
— Fan Antics (@FanAnticsFC) June 22, 2018
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.
