World Cup 2018: 5 major disappointments so far

#2 Lionel Messi

Messi under stress before the game against Croatia.

He was also the captain of Argentina at this World Cup. Just as his contribution as a player, his impact as the captain was also disappointing. Often when Argentina was struggling, Messi made no attempt to raise the spirits of his teammates.

He just dejectedly wandered without even communicating with his teammates. In a World Cup where everyone expected him to step up for a last shot at the world cup, Messi has been a major disappointment. Messi came with so many expectations for what could be the final World Cup of his career.

But once again what we got to witness was a Messi who crumbles under pressure. He had perhaps the worst outing in a tournament in his prolific career that has conquered many glories. Let alone scoring goals, Messi could not make an impact apart from an inspirational moment in the match against Nigeria.

Most of the minutes on the pitch, he just wandered without the ball like a lost child. It could not have been worse for him as the first real involvement in the World Cup was a missed penalty against Iceland, which proved to add up to the already mounting pressure.