After scraping through World Cup qualification and embarrassing friendly defeats to Nigeria and Spain, what are the expectations for Argentina for the upcoming tournament in Russia?
It has been a turbulent few years for the Argentina national team since their second-place finish at the 2014 World Cup. They have been through three managers after Alejandro Sabella’s departure, with Gerard Martino and Edgardo Bauza taking the reins before Jorge Sampaoli’s appointment in May 2017.
Some of this has been down to problems at the Argentine Football Association, where FIFA and CONMEBOL took over the running of the organisation in 2016 in the wake of a number of scandals on and off the field. Among other incidents, star player Lionel Messi briefly retired from international football after Argentina lost to Chile in the Copa America.
All of this occurred in the middle of a fractious qualification campaign for the 2018 World Cup. Argentina almost missed out on the trip to Russia, finishing third in the CONMEBOL group and just two points ahead of Chile who missed out on goal difference.
Before their final game against Ecuador, they were in sixth place – outside the top four automatic places and the play-off spot – after three successive draws, but beat their opponents 3-1 thanks to a hat-trick from Messi.
A proud footballing nation, there is usually plenty of expectation on the shoulders of the World Cup squad, but with a less than inspiring qualifying campaign behind them, what are Argentines hoping for this year?
“There is a strange atmosphere regarding expectations for the World Cup given how poor the qualification process was and how the dependency on Lionel Messi is greater than ever,” football writer Peter Coates, who specialises in Argentinean football, told Sky Sports.
“The optimists will feel that with Messi anything is possible, the pessimists will sense that an embarrassing early exit could well be on the cards. The average response is that Sampaoli could take this side to the quarter-finals, maybe the semis and that would be a decent return.”
From inside the camp, Argentina captain Messi has warned his compatriots that their World Cup campaign could be tricky – although they will be the favourites in a group with Iceland, Nigeria and Croatia.
“People need to know that we are not going to Russia as favourites but we have a group of very good players and we are ready to scrap,” Messi told Argentine Canal 13. “We have players with talent and experience. We cannot send the message that we are the best, because that’s not true. We have to think we will finish first in this group, but it won’t be easy.”
It is not just the qualification campaign that has been a source of worry for Argentina. A friendly against Spain in March ended in a crushing 6-1 defeat, which was met with anger in the national press, with La Nacion saying Argentina were ‘humiliated’ and Clarin declaring it a ‘catastrophe’.
Before that, there was a 4-2 loss to Nigeria in November – a game they were leading 2-0 at one stage – so do Argentines believe their side can overcome their recent struggles and go all the way?
“Very few feel that Argentina will lift the trophy in Russia,” Coates added. “Four years ago, given Argentina hadn’t reached the semi-finals since 1990, there was a sense of triumph at just reaching the final but Sabella had been able to fix his squad over the whole qualification period. This time round, Argentina have chopped and changed and arrive in a chaotic state hoping that things click into place.
“A truly bad campaign would be going out in the group stage, as Argentina did in 2002, and while the AFA have told Sampaoli that he has job security to build something for the future, that would make his position very precarious.
“The genius of Messi means that anything is possible so Argentina can win it but it will be a real shock. If reaching the final in Brazil was a celebration in the street, I can only imagine what Buenos Aires would be like if Argentina were to win it and I’d love to find out.”
With a few weeks of training behind them and seven days to go until Argentina’s opening game against Iceland in Moscow, what does Sampaoli need to do to get his team back into form at the vital time?
Coates added: “Sampaoli needs to find the right system that brings the best from his squad. In his relatively short amount of time in charge, Sampaoli has tried to use his preferred 3-3-3-1 but quickly realised that Argentina’s slow defence in this system was a recipe for disaster, switched to a back four but with little real improvement and is now back almost to square one.”
But Messi is still holding hope for a supposed upset, and when asked if Argentina can win the World Cup, he added to Argentine Canal 13: “I believe so. I have faith in this team.”
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