5 big teams who could fail to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup

5) Argentina

Can Argentina squeeze their way through to the World cup?

Just like Chile, Argentina are also in all sorts of trouble. But they might just scrape through to the World Cup if they play their cards right.

Trying to imagine a World Cup without the 2014 finalists and two-time champions is almost unheard of. A World cup without Lionel Messi would prove to be disastrous not only for the billions of fans but also the sponsors.

As things stand, La Albiceleste are in fifth place. That's not good enough to qualify for the group stages directly but it will allow them to play in an Inter-Confederation Playoff with a team from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) - which is New Zealand.

Argentina have been abysmal in the qualifiers. The absence of Messi in a number of games has seen their goals dry up and that is why Peru are in fourth place in spite of having the same points and Goal Difference.

Peru have scored 26 goals so far while Argentina have only scored 16. The number of draws have not helped their cause either.

CONMEBOL table - 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

Who do they play next?

Argentina's last two games are against Peru (home) and Ecuador (away). While that is certainly a lot better than what sixth-placed Chile have to go through, the team (now led by Jorge Sampaoli) lost 2-0 to Ecuador and drew 2-2 with Peru in the reverse fixtures.

One thing that must be noted, though, is that Messi did not play in both those games. Sampaoli will be hoping that the country's talisman will be fit and available for both the fixtures in October.

They will also be hoping that Brazil take the game to Chile in the final round of fixtures. But will Brazil, who have already qualified, play a weakened team against Chile to help 'eliminate' Argentina?