WC 2018: What went wrong for Argentina at the 2018 World Cup?

#2 - Team selection and formation

The team selection by Sampaoli was utterly baffling. In each of Argentina's games, there was at least one surprise inclusion/exclusion in the starting line-up.

Manuel Lanzini had gotten injured and had been ruled out of the World Cup. As he was a creative player, replacing him was a problem. The player who could have replaced him was Giovani Lo Celso, who has enjoyed a stellar season with Paris Saint-Germain. But instead of giving him a chance to shine, Sampaoli instead choose Javier Mascherano, who contributed very little in Argentina's matches.

Another player did not get enough playing time was Paulo Dybala. The Juventus forward has scored 26 goals in all competitions last season and was primed to shine at the World Cup. The main reason why Dybala did not play enough was that both him and Messi prefer to play on the right-wing and due to the obvious fact that Messi is better than him, he was selected ahead of Dybala. But, in the 4 matches that Messi has started in, only once has he played in his preferred position. Instead of starting Dybala, Sampaoli has preferred to play Cristian Pavon. Why he would choose a player who plays for Boca Juniors over a player who plays for Juventus is beyond me.

Paulo Dybala has struggled to cement his place in the Argentina Squad

Sampaoli also did not know his best formation and kept changing it, trying a 3-4-3, a 4-2-3-1, a 4-4-2, and a 4-3-3. This is usually the kind of thing that needs to be sorted during friendlies and not in the World Cup.