Coach Jorge Sampaoli before the 'Messi' gamble

(Baonghean.vn) - When the referee blew the whistle to end the 0-0 draw with Peru, right at the "fire pan" La Bombonera, many spectators were left with their faces covered in tears.Where is Messi hiding?Argentina have 3 consecutive draws?”

Messi is truly the greatest talent that coach Jorge Sampaoli has at his disposal. But the Albiceleste's over-reliance on this star has cost them. As a human being, Messi still has times when his form is erratic, but it seems that the blue and white striped team has to rely entirely on him. Stars like Gomez, Di Maria, Benedetto are fading more than ever.

All the stars are dim

In the history of Argentine football, there has only been one time when they failed to qualify for the World Cup. That was in the 1970 World Cup qualifiers. 48 years have passed and the “Albiceleste” are facing that disaster once again.

More painfully, now is the time when Argentina possesses a generation of outstanding players in the squad such as Aguero, Higuain (both of whom did not attend this call-up), Di Maria, Mascherano, Dybala... And most of all, the genius Lionel Messi - the player considered the best of all time.

Coach Sampaoli continues to ignore Dybala in Argentina's life-or-death match? Photo: Internet

The tragedy is that coach Jorge Sampaoli has too many "kings" in his starting lineup. If Messi is leading the La Liga top scorer list, Dybala is also the king of Serie A, Aguero is competing fiercely with Lukaku and Morata for the Premier League top scorer title. Even Benedetto - the player who just disappointed against Peru, is also the king of the Argentine domestic league.

No one can explain why in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in South America, Messi has only scored 4 goals for Argentina so far, 2 of which were penalties.

No one understands why, until the 17th round of the qualifying round - that is, the penultimate round - the Argentine captain only had 2 goals that were not penalties. In contrast to his form in La Liga, he had 11 goals after 7 matches for Barca, leading the list of top scorers in the land of the bulls.

South American football is played openly, so Messi's failure to score while playing alongside a star-studded squad has given experts a headache. Messi is losing to Neymar - the striker who has scored 6 goals for Brazil, only 1 of which was a penalty. Messi is even further behind Cavani, the main striker of Uruguay, who scored 9 goals in the qualifying round, with only 4 goals from the 11m mark.

The Argentine Football Association appointed Jorge Sampaoli as head coach because they believed he understood and used Messi effectively, but in 4 matches, they drew 3 and lost 1, of course, Messi failed to score in all of those matches. As a result, from the position of the current runner-up of the 2014 World Cup, the “Albiceleste” no longer holds the right to decide in the qualifying round.

Argentina have fallen to sixth place ahead of the final group stage, meaning they are out of the play-offs altogether. Messi will be playing in Ecuador for the next four days while waiting for the results of other matches to see if he will be a spectator.

But if Messi and his teammates keep playing like they did against Peru, not to mention waiting for their opponents to stumble, Argentina won't even be able to beat themselves.

Coach Jorge Sampaoli "gambles"

It is true that the “tango dancers” are having psychological problems, not playing style. The Argentines are blindly relying on Messi while they still have other individuals and those stuntmen are all world class. It could be Paulo Dybala, Mauro Icardi - who are in very good form at their respective clubs.

Messi is lonely in Argentina's shirt. Photo: Internet

Many coaches would leave Messi on the bench, giving other players a chance, but with the Argentina national team that will never happen. The star Messi was born to be a starter, despite his poor form.

However, according to football-italia.net, coach Jorge Sampaoli will continue to put Paulo Dybala on the bench. At the same time, he will put his faith in the unknown striker of Boca Junior, Darío Benedetto in the final match of the South American World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador (October 11). In the 0-0 draw with Peru, the Juventus striker was also not in the starting lineup because his playing style is too similar to Lionel Messi.

It's true that coach Jorge Sampaoli gambles!

AT