Argentina 1-3 Venezuela: 3 reasons why Argentina lost the match

#1 Lack of team understanding

Lionel Scaloni started with an inexperienced team

The last decade of Argentine football was characterized by a team of 'Golden Generation' players who wholly failed to live up to their promise.

These squads were made up largely of the back-to-back Under-20 World Cup winning teams of 2005 and 2007 and having failed to step up to the plate, it was largely believed that the only way forward was with a new group of players.

Head coach Lionel Scaloni seems to be following this template, as he has slowly been introducing new entrants into the team throughout his eight-month tenure.

In the match against Venezuela, the 40-year-old's starting XI was comprised of just four players who participated in the 4-3 loss to France last June - Lionel Messi and the trio of Nico Tagliafico, Gabriel Mercado and goalkeeper Franco Armani.

The rest of the squad was made up of largely inexperienced players, with the oldest being Gonzalo Martinez at 25.

All seven other players had 10 caps or lower, with little or no experience of playing with one another and this distinct lack of understanding was obvious from the get go; from a lack of effective communication in defense to uninspired midfield showing in midfield forcing Lionel Messi to drop deep and try to influence proceedings.

It has been established that Argentina might need a new generation to take them back to greatness, but n evidence of the showing against Venezuela, they are a long way off striking the perfect balance.