World Cup 2018: 5 World Class Players Who Have Flopped Badly

Nicolas Otamendi

To be honest, you could likely include several of Argentina’s big-name players in this article. But for now, we’re going to focus on Manchester City’s centre-back, Nicolas Otamendi.

Despite having impressed for the Citizens as they romped to the Premier League title last season, Otamendi often looked like he was never far away from a costly mistake. And in this summer’s World Cup, he put in some outright disastrous displays for Jorge Sampaoli’s men. In fact, the only Argentine defender to leave the tournament with any sort of credit is Manchester United’s Marcos Rojo.

With the international-level inexperienced Nicolas Tagliafico at left-back, right winger Eduardo Salvio at right-back, and a trio of calamitous goalkeeper options available following the pre-competition injury to regular stopper Sergio Romero, many were looking at Otamendi and Rojo to guide a shaky backline. Unfortunately for the Man City man, he was left wanting in every single game for Argentina – leaving him to revert to kicking and lashing out at the opposition in the games against both Croatia and France.

About the author

A longtime football and wrestling fan who's managed to somehow make a career out of writing and talking about such things, Andrew likes to think of himself as an entertaining, informative, and occasionally humourous writer and radio personality - although you may completely disagree with that.

When not writing or talking about the beautiful game and the squared circle, this Welshman can usually be found watching the not-so-mighty Wrexham AFC, scanning sports channels for any sort of football whatsoever, or re-watching classic Bret Hart matches of yesteryear. Elsewhere, Andrew is known as the Online Editor/Lead Writer of Starburst Magazine, a contributor for outlets such as TheRichest, WhatCulture, and TheQuiz.com, a radio presenter for CalonFM, and a panel host for Wales Comic Con.

Feel free to get in touch with any queries, comments, or criticism on the usual social media channels. Just try to be nice :)

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Edited by Arvind Sriram