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#1 Maradona claims Sampaoli's gameplan against Iceland was a disgrace
Former World Cup winner and Argentine manager, Diego Armando Maradona was in attendance at his nation's 2018 opener against Iceland that ended in 1-1. The legendary football icon lamented Sampaoli's tactics against the debutants claiming lack of preparation was to blame for the country's draw against the minnows.
Despite Messi's penalty miss and lack of creative team play, Maradona blasted Sampaolli's approach to the game against Iceland's large team. "It's a disgrace. Not having prepared for the match knowing that Iceland are all 1.90m tall, we played all our corners in the air. We had no short game," the 1986 World Cup winner told Venezuelan television.
Maradona has been critical of the manager and went on to reassure Messi and co that they aren't to blame but need to improve their work rate. "I don't blame the players. I could blame the lack of work rate. But I can't blame the players, much less Messi, who gave it all he had," said Maradona.
"I missed five penalties on the spin and I was still Diego Armando Maradona. I don't think that they dropped two points because Messi missed a penalty," added the 57-year-old, who led Argentina to the quarter-finals in South Africa in 2010.
