5 Reasons behind Argentina's collapse and how they can come back

Argentina shocked the whole of the football world with the exclusion of Icardi.

4. Wrong Team Selection

Argentina has not fielded the same eleven for two consecutive matches for the last twelve months, this fact is enough to show how confused they were about their squad. But it seemed that they were still not able to find their best eleven even after so much swapping among their players.

Icardi's absence from their squad has been widely criticised. A quick glance at the Inter Milan striker's stats will show why it was wrong to drop him. The prolific striker has netted 29 times from his 34 outings in the Serie A this season. Even Paulo Dybala of Juventus was not sure of his place in the squad until the last moment of the team announcement. One could argue his inclusion was supposed to silence the critics than with any intention to field him in a match.

Even the selection of starting eleven was full of follies. Ever Banega who had a pretty decent season in Spain with Sevilla was sidelined much to the dismay of their fans. Paris Saint Germain star Lo Celso also did not get a single minute on the pitch. This proved costly in their 3-0 defeat against Croatia where they were clearly outplayed in the midfield.

Problems were apparent in the defense too. Roma defender Federico Fazio, who is the best central defender of their squad could only watch from the bench how their backline fell apart.