Problems waiting for Sampaoli to solve in the Argentina team

(Baonghean.vn) - On June 1, coach Sampaoli will officially take the hot seat of the Argentina national team. A series of challenges are waiting for the 57-year-old strategist to solve.

Win tickets to World Cup 2018

After 14 matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in South America, Argentina is ranked 5th (the position that has to play a play-off match with the representative of Oceania). That does not mean that the 5th position is firmly in the hands of Messi and his teammates. On the rankings, the gap between the team ranked 6th (Ecuador) is only 2 points. With 4 more matches until the end of the qualifiers, anything can happen. With the form of the 'Tango dancers' as in the past time, it is completely possible that the team in blue and white stripes will be knocked out of the TOP 5 and miss the train to Russia in the summer of 2018.

Coach Sampaoli will officially lead the Argentina national team starting from June 1. Photo: Internet.

Therefore, the most important task of coach Sampaoli when sitting in the hot seat of the Argentina national team is nothing other than helping the Albicelestes to be present at the biggest football festival on the planet held in Russia in 2018. Everything is not too late and not out of reach of coach Sampaoli, the "Tango dancers" are closely following the teams ranked above with a close gap of 1 - 2 points (except for the Brazilian national team).

Argentina's upcoming schedule is also quite favorable, apart from the away trip to Uruguay, opponents like Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador are not worrisome. Besides, the return of superstar Messi after FIFA's decision to reduce his suspension also helps Sampaoli have less of a headache.

Solving the "Messi dependency syndrome"

Many times, the strategist born in 1960 publicly expressed his dream of becoming Messi's coach. Now that dream has come true. The important thing at this time is how coach Sampaoli can maximize La Pulga's talent in the Argentina national team. The saying "Success or failure depends on Messi" is not only true at Barcelona but also at his hometown team and is even more accurate and serious. No matter what, at Camp Nou, if Messi is dim, there are still Neymar, Suarez, Iniesta... who know how to shine so that the "Catalan giant" can win. But in the Argentina national team, La Pulga is absent or does not play (suspended, injured), most of his teammates do not do anything.

Just look at the performance of Argentina in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in South America. In the past 14 matches, the "Tango dancers" have won 6, drawn 4 and lost 4 times. It is worth mentioning that in those 6 wins, Messi participated in 5 matches, scored 4 goals and 2 assists; in the 8 matches that Argentina did not win, the striker born in 1987 only participated in 1 match (lost 0-3 to Brazil). This proves how important Messi is to Argentina. In fact, it is no longer an exception that a team depends on a certain outstanding factor.

However, Messi has turned 31, and recently this striker has often suffered injuries. Letting the Argentina national team depend too much on the striker born in 1987 is like coach Sampaoli 'playing with knives'. Surely the former Sevilla coach would not be foolish enough to do so, but to come up with an effective solution is not a simple task. The problem of "Messi dependence syndrome" needs a lot of time for coach Sampaoli to find a solution and apply it successfully.

Harmless attack

Surprisingly, with the presence of top strikers like Higuain, Aguero, Dybala... Argentina's national team still has to endure a goal drought. After 14 matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in South America, Albicelestes has only scored 15 goals (an efficiency of 1.07 goals/match). Argentina's attack performance is only better than Bolivia (12 goals) and Paraguay (13 goals), worse than the team currently ranked bottom, Venezuela (17 goals). The poor finishing has contributed to the poor performance of the "Tango dancers" in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in South America.

Coach Sampaoli will have to solve the problem of "Messi dependence syndrome" and maximize the potential of Aguero, Higuain... in the attack. Photo: Internet

Of course, the fault of the players on the Argentine national team's attack line is indisputable. But the biggest responsibility still belongs to the "leader" - former head coach Bauza. Observing the Albicelestes' playing style under coach Bauza and coach Martino, one can clearly see the deadlock and harmlessness on the attacking front. Strikers like Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria... are often easily isolated and neutralized by the opponent. Even without strong defenses like Brazil and Chile, even Paraguay and Peru have no difficulty blocking the way to the home team's goal from the Argentine strikers.

So after many years of waiting, Coach Sampaoli has been honored to lead his hometown team. Mixed with pride and happiness are a series of worries about the current situation of the Argentina national team./.

Thanh Hung