Sampaoli doesn’t know his best team: Osvaldo Ardiles

Former Argentina football manager Osvaldo Ardiles lamented another non-performance from Argentina, going from bad to worse in their second game against Croatia.

In his column for TOI, Ardiles wrote, “Argentina look like a team in turmoil, in meltdown. We created one chance at goal, maybe, and there were a lot of defensive mistakes. I won’t say this was our worst defeat ever, but certainly it was in that category - one of our worst defeats in a long, long time. One of the reasons for this is lack of leadership and overreliance on Messi. From that point of view we have to look at the manager, Sampaoli. In a way it looks like he's fighting with himself. He doesn’t seem sure of what to do, doesn't seem to really know his best team, or how to use the players.” 

“Even before the World Cup, he used a lot of players, always experimenting. He was never sure of any player apart from Messi. He has brought this into the World Cup, changing the team for the Croatia match. There seems to an all-round collapse in our game, and there's a lot of infighting in the camp as well. All these, unfortunately, are affecting the results,” Ardiles added.

“However, we are not totally out yet. Our only chance of making it to the next round is beating Nigeria. We got a lucky break with the African country beating Iceland. Now we need to beat Nigeria and, of course, Croatia have to beat Iceland. Otherwise, we will have to rely on goal difference and, for the moment, Iceland have the upper hand there. So, lots of ifs and buts. It still doesn't depend 100 per cent on us but we can only do what we can, and what we can do is go out there and win. And then pray that the Iceland-Croatia match goes our way. End of story! Otherwise, it has been a wonderful, peaceful World Cup so far with lots of good games, and some upsets as well. The first team I would like to congratulate is Mexico, who have qualified, beating Germany on their way!” added the former midfielder who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as part of the Argentine national team.

“The defending champions, with their win over Sweden, are still in the tournament, while Spain and Portugal look strong and should qualify. Of course, Belgium is the team that looks the best so far. I didn't expect Argentina to be in this position, but this is the way it is. Hopefully (and I'm praying), we make it to the next round,” Ardiles signed off.

Source: Times of India