After the recent defeats to Chile and Bolivia in the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers, Argentinian football is in a severe crisis. The national team are 5th in the group table of the CONMEBOL 2018 World Cup Qualifiers and could well miss out on automatic qualification for football’s biggest tournament.
The two shock losses forced the Argentine Football Association (AFA) to sack manager Edgardo Bauza earlier this week. With just four more games remaining, what will happen if the Argentinian team do not qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia?
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Also read: 5 big teams in danger of missing out on the 2018 FIFA World Cup
We list a few things that could happen in the aftermath of Argentina’s failure to qualify for the World Cup.
#5 Diego Maradona will forever overshadow Lionel Messi
The Ronaldo vs Messi debate will go on till pigs can fly, but the debate of the greatest Argentinian footballer is solely in the favour of Lionel Messi.
The debate was seemingly put to bed by Diego Maradona himself – who is considered the closest competitor to Messi for the crown of ‘best Argentinian footballer of all-time’ – when he proclaimed that the Barcelona star was a much better player than him.
But in the eyes of many Albiceleste fans, Messi is still second best to Maradona thanks to the latter single-handedly winning the World Cup for Argentina.
Messi might have won everything there is to be won in club football but has still not laid hands on the biggest prize of them all – the World Cup.
#4 AFA to find a long term solution
The AFA have faced crises on and off the field which may have had a major impact on the functioning of the organisation as well as the results on the field. Early last year, the AFA President, Luis Segura, was sacked by FIFA after they found the organisation to have mismanaged funds and engaged in administrative fraud.
Argentina football hit rock bottom when FIFA took over the administration of the AFA and took control of the day-to-day affairs of the organisation after the financial scandal came to light.
Since the death of Julio Grondona – the former AFA President who ran the organisation from 1979 to 2014 – the AFA have struggled to run the organisation smoothly and are still searching for a worthy successor to steer it in the right direction. Matters took a turn for the worse in March this year when players in Argentina went on strike over unpaid wages which resulted in AFA suspending league games.
Claudio Tapia took over as President of the AFA last month, but the financial woes and the corruption in the association still exist. Missing out on the World Cup will be the perfect opportunity for Argentina football to start with a clean slate and begin afresh.
#3 Star football generation would have failed yet again
di Maria, Higuain, Aguero, and Messi – in club football, this attacking foursome have been an unstoppable force and struck fear into the toughest, strongest defences in the world. But, in international football, these four – along with other stars like Dybala and Mascherano, have flattered to deceive and have looked a shadow of themselves.
The Argentinian football team is littered with world-class stars who can change the game with a strike of their foot, creating a magical moment out of nothing. For this generation of Argentine star footballers to not win even one major international trophy is a travesty of ginormous proportions.
This group of players showed the scary potential that they had in the 2008 Olympics when they won gold, which is incidentally their last major trophy on the international stage. They narrowly missed out on the World Cup in 2014, pipped by Germany, and endured more misery in 2015 and 2016, when they ended as runners-up in the Copa America and the Copa América Centenario.
Failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup would mean that this talented group of individuals would have lost their final chance of winning the big prize; Messi, Aguero and Higuain will be in their mid-30s and far from their prime by the time the 2022 World Cup in Qatar comes around.
#2 Focus on the team as a whole over individuals
For years, the Argentina football team has revolved around their star attackers and strikers without tasting success. The likes of Messi and co. have come close but fallen at the final hurdle tragically. There seems to be a lack of confidence to put teams to the sword and finish them off.
What Argentina needs is a change in philosophy, mindset and to be ruthless in crucial times. Argentina have a bevy of young stars chomping at the bit to wear the iconic blue and white jersey, and the AFA and the powers that be, must focus on building their future teams on young players who fit a particular system rather than cramming all the star players into the starting XI.
Also read: 5 things Argentina need to do to win a World Cup
The likes of Mauro Icardi, Paulo Dybala, Angel Correa and Luciano Vietto have the potential to be superstars, and by playing these players in a formation that suits each of their playing styles can make them world beaters. The ‘all eggs in one basket’ philosophy should be done away with and players who fit into a particular system should be chosen over star names.
#1 Lionel Messi retires
Whenever Lionel Messi steps on the field wearing the blue and white jersey of Argentina, he looks like a cheap Chinese knock-off novelty. Messi much prefers playing in the Nou Camp in Barcelona colours than in the El Monumental in Buenos Aires.
The Barcelona ace shocked the footballing world when he retired from international duty in 2016 after his team failed in yet another final in the Copa America. He soon reversed his decision sighting his “love of the country” and “to help from within” to win.
But, it is quite evident that Messi is frustrated playing for the national team and is on the brink of retiring once again if the team fails to achieve what he strives for. He is the highest goalscorer of all-time for Argentina but that is the only laurel that the diminutive attacker has while playing for the national team.
Another shocking result or failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup will be the final straw for the Barcelona player and he is bound to bid goodbye and walk away from the disaster that is the Argentina national football team.
