Argentina vs Venezuela, 5 Talking Points; FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifying

#1. Can Lionel Messi and Paulo Dybala play together?

Head tennis yes, but actual football?

Lionel Messi and Paulo Dybala... the question was raised multiple times whether the two left-footed magicians could fit into the same team and play well together... and on the evidence of the last two matches, those doubts seem to have been well founded.

Sampaoli has worked out a 3-4-3 system (with Di Maria/Acuna left-wingback and Acosta right-wingback) to fit in his two brilliant playmakers into the side but as they showed against Uruguay and this time around against Venezuela, there seems to be very little chemistry between the two. Dybala spent a lot of time looking either lost or wandering into the space that Messi naturally occupies (because those are the same kind of areas he likes to operate in too) and although there was flashes of genius from both parties - those came via the sheer individual quality of the two players and had little to do with the way the two connect.

But then again, all of this... all the tactics, the formations, the permutations... all of it is secondary to the single most important point to emerge from this international fortnight. Indeed, this point has been raised throughout this rather disappointing campaign for Argentina, but it's never been a more realistic prospect than now - there is STILL a very real fear that Lionel Messi will not play in the 2018 World Cup.

Let that sink in.

Come October, there will be quiet a few hearts that will have their muscular strength tested.