Argentina
The Road to the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Argentina’s journey to Russia 2018 was a rocky one, with the South American giant’s World Cup spot in jeopardy until the very last qualification game. The ‘Albiceleste’ were only spared disaster thanks to Lionel Messi’s timely hat-trick in the deciding match against Ecuador, which secured the team third place in the South American qualification group.
The team hit something of a rough patch on its way to the booking a place at Russia 2018: coaches were changed, points were lost, and the players appeared edgy and unsettled. As many as three coaches worked with the team – an unprecedented situation. Gerardo Martino resigned in 2016 after Argentina lost to Chile on penalties in the final of the Copa America Centenario – their second such defeat in two years. The loss was so painful that a number of players, including main star Messi, planned to end their national team careers.
Edgardo Bauza, who took over from Martino, convinced them to reverse their decisions. It was implied, however, especially in local reports, that he did so on Messi’s condition to dump some players from the national team that the latter disliked, such as Mauro Icardi.
As a result, Bauza only lasted until April 2017 as head coach, and since then the team has been managed by Jorge Sampaoli, who previously led Chile to the Copa America title in 2015.
Stars
This team’s most stellar name is Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who somewhat surprisingly comes in for criticism in his homeland. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner faces accusations of trying harder for Barca than for the national team. Whether that’s true or not, Argentina depend massively on Messi. When he announced his resignation in 2016, even the country’s president asked him to reconsider.
Messi won the 2008 Olympics with the team, but has also lost three Copa America tournaments, as well as suffering World Cup final agony against Germany in Brazil.
Argentina also boast Paulo Dybala, a young forward playing for Italy’s Juventus. He’s believed by many to be a potential team captain one day, although there have been questions raised over his lifestyle choices.
One more good piece of news for Argentina was reinstating Icardi to the squad. Both he and Sergio Aguero, Manchester City’s prolific striker, are valuable assets to have for the World Cup challenge.
Coach
Argentinian coach Jorge Sampaoli has worked with a number of home clubs, but rose to fame in neighboring Chile. He led his Chilean club to the national championship title three times and took over the national team in 2012. It was under his supervision that “La Roja” snatched the Copa America trophy from Argentine hands in 2015.
After that success, Sampaoli was contracted by Spain’s Sevilla and managed to lead them to the UEFA Champions League. It looked like Sampaoli was only getting started with the team when he was called back home in April 2017 to help save Argentina. Sampaoli said yes and made sure the ‘Albiceleste’ booked a trip to Russia.
Past Achievements
Argentina are proud two-time winners of the FIFA World Cup. In 1978, as hosts they beat the Netherlands in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. Striker Mario Kempes was the tournament’s Golden Boot winner with six goals.
Eight years after that, in 1986, Argentina were led to victory by the mercurial Diego Maradona. He scored a total of five goals, sending the two most memorable into the England net. One of the two is known as the ‘Hand of God’ because the goal stood despite the fact that replays later showed Maradona scored with his hand; the second of them – a mesmeric run followed by a fine finish – was later voted by FIFA to be greatest goal in the history of the World Cup and was also recognized as ‘Goal of the Century’ in a FIFA-arranged 2002 online poll.
The 1986 World Cup final didn’t see the little magician score, but Argentina won 3-2 against West Germany, claiming their second World Cup trophy. Argentina have also finished runners-up at FIFA World Cup tournaments three times: in 1930, 1990, and 2014.