Argentina were handed a big blow in their quest to secure a berth for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat against lowly Bolivia in the absence of their talisman Lionel Messi. The 29-year-old was handed a 4-match ban – just hours before the match against Bolivia – by FIFA for hurling abuse toward an assistant referee in the 1-0 win over Chile in the World Cup qualifier last week.
La Albiceleste dropped from 3rd to 5th position in the group standings following their unexpected loss as Colombia and Chile recorded wins in their respective games. Edgardo Bauza’s side have won only 1 out of 8 games without their talisman – highlighting their overdependence on arguably the world’s best player.
Juan Carlos Arce opened the scoring for the home side before Marcelo Moreno hit the sucker punch in the second half. The defeat puts Argentina’s World Cup 2018 qualifying hopes in jeopardy as they will be without their talisman for another two qualifying games against Uruguay and Venezuela apart from a friendly against Brazil.
Twitter didn’t hold back and mocked the #1 ranked team in the world for their pathetic performance against the team that is ranked 54 places below them. Here are the best tweets:
And the Messi-Ronaldo debate starts....
The ‘Messi’iah that never was?
Of Messi and his teammates (or lack of)!
Who is to blame for the loss? Of course, it is Messi...
Logic or maybe not?
After all, it is all Messi’s fault. In it?
True story
