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#3 A World Cup without Lionel Messi... and it may be his own fault
This isn't hyperbole - Argentina face the very real prospect of not even making the playoff spot, as they are 6th in the standings. A win would do nicely for them, but the last time the Albiceleste beat Ecuador in an away game was in 2001 - Quito's altitude doesn't tend to bring out the best of the Argentines.
It's harsh to criticize Leo Messi tonight - he drove his team forward for much of the game and created a fair number of chances, but that was perhaps the entire problem itself.
Jorge Sampaoli's reasoning for dropping the in-form Paulo Dybala was that it would allow Messi to be closer to the box, in goal-scoring areas. Instead, Messi dropped deep for much of the game, very reminiscent of his performances for Luis Enrique's final year at Barcelona - and the end result was a goalless draw.
Had the Argentine been forced to play closer to goal, he'd have definitely finished off at least 1 chance - which could come back to haunt him and deny him his final World Cup in his peak years.
