World Cup 2018, Nigeria 1-2 Argentina: Best and worst players from the game

#4 Worst - Javier Mascherano (Argentina)

Mascherano was not at his influential best

Javier Mascherano did not enjoy a particularly good day at the office against Nigeria on the night and the warning bells were ringing loud and clear when he misplaced a couple of dreadful passes as early as in the first quarter of the match.

The first one was quite abysmal for his standards after he played it straight to Kelechi Iheanacho's feet, another player who struggled majorly on the night, but the striker failed to capitalize on the opportunity.

Argentina's most capped player struggled to make an impact in midfield and made just a single successful tackle to go with his rather uncharacteristic sloppy passing. To make things even worse for the veteran, he was penalized by referee Cuneyt Cakir in the second half for holding down Leon Balogun inside the penalty area. Mascherano picked up a booking in the process to cap off a disappointing night for him in national team colours.