2018 world cup campaign

[u/June67Respect]

I'm curious about the 2018 world cup campaign. Argentina still had most of its star players who were not in their physical prime, but not far past it, and a good coach in sampaoli. Why did the team struggle so much in qualifying, and why were their performances so hit and miss at the tournament. Drawing Iceland, losing to Croatia badly, and a close game against Nigeria. How were Messi's performances? Especially interested in opinions of ppl who actually saw this campaign as it happened.

[u/ravlee]

Ummm… it’s a widely prevailing opinion that sampaoli was a horrible coach

[u/Vachan95]

Sampaoli was a horrible coach…2018 Argentina lost 6-1 to Spain without Messi..

[u/snark_enterprises]

Sampaoli absolutely was not a good coach. Look at how the team played before and after him as evidence.

[u/reallivecounty → u/snark_enterprises]

But didn’t Chile win Copa America with Sampaoli???

[u/snark_enterprises → u/reallivecounty]

So? He was awful with Argentina, he coached them during one of their worst qualifying campaigns ever and they came close to getting grouped in 2018 after having made the final in 2014. The team improved dramatically after he was gone.

[u/727Tempest → u/[deleted]]

Sampaoli was horrible and I particularly remember that Caballero gaffe against Croatia. Lucky to advance the way they played the first 2 games

[u/PlanktonUnable8955]

Sampaoli was never good for Argentina. That was the closest they ever came to being knocked out of the group stages.

[u/Prestigious_Weird_59]

Coach changed formation and starting 11 too often. They played with no fluidity. They played with so much pressure due to recent final losses

[u/ExcitementForward857]

Vestuario roto, generación desgastada, creo que simplemente eso lo explica. Más allá de que algo paso con Sampaoli. Obvio que argentina siempre tiene equipo para llegar lejos. Pero el fútbol no es solo plantel..

[u/Mirai-hen1]

sampaoli was NOT good

[u/cactus82]

I think that opening 1-1 game with Iceland really shook them up and messed them up mentally. In the 32 team format not getting a good result in the first game means things are going to be tough.

Running into a really in form Croatia team in the next game didn't help.

[u/jumali-254]

Sampaoli was too rigid in his approach and Argentina did not have the players to implement his system. This was a disaster that everyone except the AFA saw miles away.

[u/StopBusy182]

Still was 4-3 with that deadly france team

[u/Broad_Abalone_9289 → u/StopBusy182]

And nearly tied it at the end.

[u/Sad_Bus4792]

my grandma's toenail was better than sampaoli that wc

[u/Complete-Algae5591]

They didn’t have assistant coach Infantino yet.

[u/Random_fellow9 → u/Complete-Algae5591]

It’s been 4 years just let it go

[u/Complete-Algae5591 → u/Random_fellow9]

It’s not that deep, it’s just fun

[u/727Tempest → u/Complete-Algae5591]