Thoughts on Argentina's shocking defeat

This World Cup has been a wild rise of unpredictability and surprises thus far. South American teams have struggled: Colombia lost to Japan, Peru got eliminated after two games, and Argentina are on the brink of elimination. Uruguay still haven't convinced me yet, and Brazil are slowly finding their rhythm.
It's been over a day since Argentina's disappointing loss to Croatia, but this has been been coming for a long time. Sampaoli has proven that he isn't the coach for this team, and it doesn't seem that they support him too well either. He plays around too much with his lineups, and he hasn't yet found that connection between the players.

How can Sampaoli leave Di Maria, Banega, Lo Celso, Pabon, and Dybala on the bench?? How does he come out with a line of 3 in the back??? Questionable decisions all around from Sampaoli.

Like I said in the my previous post, "When analyzing upsets in any sport, you have to ask yourself: 'did the favorite team lose the game? Or did the underdogs win the game?"

In reality, Argentina lost the game. It's that simple. They just didn't put the effort. They didn't fight. For 90 minutes, they ran around wasting time on the field. It's easy to admire Croatia and their effort, but in reality, it comes down to the lack of effort from Argentina's behalf.

Before all the ~~Messi fanboys~~ Argentina fans attack me, I'm just speaking the truth of what I saw on the field. This team did not look like a WC contender, they didn't even look like a team that deserved to win the group.

In all honesty, this loss does not fall on Messi's shoulders, it's not him to take the blame. Messi can't carry the team if they can't even manage to give him the ball in the first place. The midfielders can't expect to make plays if the ball can't even get played out from the defense. You can't even expect any type of possession-based football, if your goalkeeper can't even make a simple play.

While Argentina's cloak of invincibility is tearing apart, their weaknesses are starting to show. And they're apparent. Caballero isn;t worthy to start, their defense is weak, they need fresh legs in that midfield, and opposing teams know to put 2 or 3 defenders on Messi to ice him out of the game.

They need to find their form, and Messi will have to be a huge part of that. Argentina will need to step it up, as Nigeria is starting to show their firepower in Group D. Do I think they still have a chance, of course they do. How will they fare against teams such as France, Brazil, and Germany? That we will have to see...

Comments

Opinion: My favorite World Cup kits so far

Part of the excitement as we get closer to the World Cup are the new kits being released by sponsors such as Adidas, Nike, Puma, New Balance, etc. Each country releases their own kits, inspired by their national colors and old uniform designs. There's a certain difficulty in doing so: they must strike the perfect balance in simplicity while remaining original and tasteful. Argentina: Argentina's home kit keeps the traditional design they have always had: the vertical blue and white stripes down the torso. The black lines on the shoulders add a very flashy style. Argentina's away kit looks VERY, VERY beautiful and stylish. The black kit stands out from the crowd and attracts all the attention. The finishing touch, the lightning design down the side of the kit, adds flavor and excitement with a nice shade of sky blue. Colombia: In all honesty, when I first saw the leaked image of the kit, I was not impressed of the design. Yes, the red and blue design looked v...

10 players to look out for in World Cup 2018

The World Cup is football's largest collection of stars coming together representing their home countries, and battling it out for the ultimate prize. However, among so much talent on display, there a few handful of players who will shine and seize the moment. These 10 players listed below are players who I am looking forward to watching this summer, and who I think, are worth keeping an eye on. 10. Marco Asensio There is no question about it, Marco Asensio is a stud. He's young and talented, and has yet to crack into Real Madrid's starting lineup, but his talent is on display whenever he is on the field. He scored 17 goals and 6 assists last season in his breakout year, and is on his way to matching those numbers this year with 9 & 6, with limited appearances. He has a knack for scoring bangers and showing off his wide array of skills moves. Although he may not crack the starting 11 for Spain, but he will make plenty of highlights and make this Spain squad fu...

Could Iceland prove to be underdogs again?

Iceland celebrating qualification to the quarterfinals vs. France, after defeating England 2-0. Iceland were the underdog team of Euro 2016, as they beat all odds to pass the group stage and then defeating England to reach the quarterfinals. They proved that they had talent to match up and compete against other European giants. Yet this summer, Iceland are no longer a surprise team and many opponents know to watch out for them. Iceland was placed in Group D: arguably the toughest group in the entire tournament. Iceland will have to face World Cup-favorites Argentina, a fellow European giant Croatia, and a very young and fast Nigeria team. Nonetheless, Iceland is a very strong team and can surprise us again this summer. Iceland's road to Russia was due to a strong showing in qualifiers, finishing first in Group I. Iceland's balanced midfield could pose problems for both Croatia and Nigeria, and holding the ball for 90 minutes could effectively ice the ...

Angelo's Soccer Talk

Search This Blog