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La Albiceleste are knocked out of the 2018 World Cup by France in the round of 16. To be fair, Jorge Sampaoli’s side never got momentum in the tournament and performed well below their usual standards.
The needed a last-gasp Marcos Rojo strike to qualify for the last-16 but produced another below-par performance against the 1998 Champions France to bow out of the tournament.
They drew their opening group game against Iceland and then lost to Croatia 3-1 in their second game. They battled hard to beat Nigeria 2-1 to qualify for the round of 16.
Though Jorge Sampaoli had to take a fair share of the blame for their early World Cup exit, some of his players were really poor throughout the World Cup campaign. Lionel Messi did his part but was not able to inspire his teammates.
Without much ado, let’s take a look at the players who should be dropped by Argentina.
#5 Nicolas Otamendi
The Manchester City star was one of the poor performers for La Albiceleste in the World Cup. Though Pep Guardiola managed to win the Premier League title with Nicolas Otamendi as his defensive mainstay, his performances for Argentina were really poor. Guardiola’s tactics and Manchester City’s dominance shielded Otamendi throughput the PL campaign but it was not the case in the World Cup.
He was poor in the World Cup qualifiers for Argentina and was destroyed by Spain 6-1 in an international friendly in March. He was slow, indecisive, and regularly misplaced passes. He struggled to deal with the pace of the attacking players and was left stranded on multiple occasions.
He was really poor against Croatia and in the game against France, he was caught off guard by the pace of Kylian Mbappe. Argentina’s defensive instability was mainly due to his dismal performances.
#4 Willy Caballero
Willy Caballero was very indecisive between the sticks for Argentina throughout the World Cup and was dropped by Jorge Sampaoli after the Croatia mauling.
Though he was quite decent against Iceland and made a couple of good saves, his passing was really poor. His worst moment of the World Cup came against Croatia. Caballero’s awful error gifted Croatia the first goal when he tried to chip the ball over Rebic.
Caballero chipped the ball straight up in the air and right into the path of Ante Rebic. Rebic struck it sweetly to give Croatia the lead. Argentina never recovered from that goal and lost the game 3-0.
He was poor in his judgments and put his team under pressure on numerous occasions in the first two games.
#3 Marcos Rojo
The Manchester United Star turned from a hero to a villain in a matter of days. His wonder strike against Nigeria in the dying minutes of the game got Argentina into the round of 16. However, his defensive aspects of the game were really dismal throughout the World Cup.
He was troubled by the pace of Iceland’s counter-attack in Argentina’s first game and could not anything to stop Croatia’s attacking players in their 3-0 defeat. Though he was responsible for Argentina’s qualification to the last-16, he was poor once again in the game against France.
He brought down Kylian Mbappe in the 13th minute of the game and conceded a penalty to France. He received a yellow card early in the game and was hesitant to go into tackles for the remainder of the first half. Sampaoli was forced to withdraw him in the second half.
#2 Enzo Perez
The 32-year-old was brought into the squad as a replacement for the injured West Ham star, Manuel Lanzini. Lanzini injured his right knee and was ruled out of the World Cup. The River Plate midfielder has played 23 times for Argentina and was expected to bring the much-needed experience to the squad.
He did not play the game against Iceland but was brought in for the game against Croatia and Nigeria. Though he played with some energy, he was not able to influence the game. He could not create anything going forward and was substituted just after 60 minutes in both the games.
He produced a dismal performance in the game against France and was outplayed by the French midfielders. He was dispossessed easily on quite a few occasions and offered very little to support his attacking players.
#1 Maximiliano Meza
The midfielder from Independiente was a surprise starter for Argentina in their first game against Iceland. Though he made some threatening runs down the right flank, he barely produced anything going forward.
He started once again for Argentina in their game, this time on the left flank. He missed a great chance to score in the game and looked all over the place. He was a mere spectator for the most part of second half.
He was dropped to the bench for the game against Nigeria and France. Though he came on as a substitute in both the games, he was not able to influence the game and did not offer anything substantial in the final third.
