Argentina was one of the favorites to win the 2018 World Cup. Now two games into the tournament, it looks like they won’t even make it past the group stage.
After a surprising draw against Iceland, Argentina faced Croatia on Thursday night and everyone expected for this team to bounce back with a win. Instead, they suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat and now need lots of things to go right in order to advance into the second round.
The first half of the game was scoreless, with both teams having a couple of chances but playing a tough and physical game overall. The second half continued in the same fashion until the 53′ minute when Argentina’s Willy Caballero gifted the ball to Croatia’s Ante Rebic in front of his own goal and Rebic didn’t hesitate to put it into the back of the net. Argentina then pushed all of its chips to attack, but they just couldn’t find an answer to Croatia’s defense. Then in 80′ minute, Luka Modric scores a beautiful goal and ruined Argentina’s hopes that they can salvage something from this game, while Ivan Rakitic added one more in stoppage time and brought Croatia a convincing win which secured them a place in the knockout stage.
One of the biggest problems for Argentina was the inefficiency of Lionel Messi, who just couldn’t work out the way to outsmart the opponent’s defense.
“He is our captain, he leads the team and we quite simply couldn’t pass to him,” – said Argentina’s coach Jorge Sampaoli. “We work to give Leo the ball, but the opponent also works hard to prevent him from getting the ball.“
It turns out that this was Croatia’s plan all along.
“This result and Argentina’s poor display was due to our good game, our compact block all over the pitch, particularly when we didn’t have the ball,” – said team’s captain Luka Modric in his postgame news conference. “We cut off Messi, stopped him receiving the ball. He’s their most dangerous player.“
There are few scenarios in which Argentina could secure their place in the second round with a win against Nigeria in their last game. But, it doesn’t seem like they deserve it.
