Argentina 0-3 Croatia: Messi’s Side Close to Elimination2 min read

In their second game of the tournament, Argentina took on Croatia at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Western Russia.

The Argentines were looking to rectify their surprisingly awful performance against Iceland in the first round, with Croatia looking the stronger side out of the two.

This World Cup was Lionel Messi last chance for any international glory and by the looks of it, his journey may be over already.

Croatia battered Argentina 3-0 with an outstanding performance from the visitors in the latter stages of the match.

The fixture, like most in this year’s tournament, started with both sides looking equally eager going in front on goal.

The likes of Messi, Enzo Perez and Marcos Acuña had solid chances on goal but looked slightly unmatched compared to the well organised Croats.

Despite pressure from the Balkans, Willy Caballero managed to keep the ball out of his net.

Many were wondering if the game would match the same boredom as the previous fixtures in the tournament.

However, in the second half, Croatia bolstered their attack up front with the likes of Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic making the necessary runs through a frustrated Argentina defence.

As the game looked like it was dying out, a fatal mistake by Caballero cost Argentina a goal in the 53rd minute.

Ante Rebic caught the Chelsea goalkeeper slipping as he tried to dink the attack inside the box. But the 24-year-old smashed it into the back of the net.

This was only the start of Argentina’s woes as captain Luka Modric seemed to seal the game for the visitors within the last 10 minutes of the match.

A cracking effort from outside the box, reminiscent to his goal against Manchester United in the Champions League, caught the Argentine defence by surprise.

To bury the south American side for good, Ivan Rakitic scored an easy goal in the box during stoppage time.

The match ended 3-0 to Croatia as they qualify into the knock out stages.

What we’ve learned from this game is that the management of Argentina’s team has been horrendous as of this year.

With a goalless Leo Messi; no Paulo Dybala, Angel Di Maria, or Marcos Rojo in the starting line up, we ask what Jorge Sampaoli was thinking.

To top it all off, the Argentina selection looked weak without Mauro Icardi their to fill in the void.

It seems like Messi’s chances of winning a World Cup are over as he is now in his thirties.

Croatia on the other hand, look like one of the strongest sides along with Belgium this year.

We cannot wait to see what they have in story for us in the next couple of weeks.

 

Source of Image: @FIFAWorldCup (Twitter)