Argentina and Messi on the brink as Rakitic inspires Croatia to victory

Argentina and Messi on the brink as Rakitic inspires Croatia to victory

Argentina's World Cup went from bad to worse as they fell to a 3-0 defeat, meaning their World Cup hopes now lie in the hands of others

Croatia, led by an inspired Ivan Rakitic, sweep aside a poor Argentina side 3-0 to leave Lionel Messi and company with one foot out of the door at this summer’s World Cup.

If Jorge Sampaoli was expecting a response from his team in the wake of the criticism they faced following the draw against Iceland, he will have been relatively pleased with the opening exchanges. There was a little more zip about Argentina’s play, although the decision not to include Ever Banega or Paolo Dybala still makes very little sense from the outside looking in.

Enzo Perez had a golden chance to give Argentina the lead, all whilst easing the nerves of a country biting their nails from the comfortable of their living room. Instead he made most of them want to eat their fists. Kun Aguero chased down what seemed like a lost cause before poking it across to an unmarked Perez who only needed to roll the ball into the empty net. Instead he unfathomably missed the talent. The reaction, looking to the sidelines, said it all. Maybe he was hoping VAR would pull it back for a foul or an offside. No such luck, Enzo.

Perhaps Perez felt a little better when Croatia soon went up the other end and long, deep cross fell perfectly for Mario Mandzukic. He, like Perez, didn’t have his finest moment of the tournament as he messed up his angles and his header rolled harmlessly wide. Did nobody want to win?

What it lacked in goal action it made up from in heavy challenges. Both teams threatened to boil over as the referee tried to play peacemaker rather than, you know, stamping his authority on the match so nobody got hurt. Ante Rebic was extremely lucky to pick up only a yellow card when he caught Salvio extremely late. And Rebic would later play a pivitol part in Croatia’s turnaround.

As the teams emerged for the second half you can imagine Sampaoli gave Argentina the hairdryer treatment. The urgency had gone from their play. It’s one thing to depend on a single player, Messi, but when he doesn’t appear Argentina look so ordinary. No one wants to take charge, no one wants to be a hero. It’s almost as if they are content for Messi to be the fall guy for their own failings.

Willy Caballero got away with a short pass to his centre back in the first half but second time around he wasn’t so lucky. Instead of hoofing it upfield he tried to calmly dink it over Rebic towards an Argentinian shirt. In theory, that was his idea anyway. The reality of the situation was he sliced the clearance up into the air and Rebic produced a fine volley to give Croatia the lead. The error was catastrophic but the finish was sublime.

Sampaoli was losing layers on the sidelines. He was down to a jacket. Maybe it was an item of clothing for every goal his team conceded. Gonzalo Higuain, the chief villain to most non-Argentina based fans, came on to offer a greater threat in attack. He got in behind Croatia’s defence and pulled it back for Meza but his weak effort was saved. Meza then poked it back to Messi but his shot was blocked by Rakitic, who was having a fine game.

Croatia were still creating chances and Mandzukic again came close to making it 2-0 but only hit the sidenetting. Dybala came on for Aguero with 20 minutes to go with Sampaoli’s last throw of the dice.

However it was Luka Modric who made sure it’d be a night to forget as his smashed home a long range effort to put Croatia ahead. Thankfully for all of us, Sampaoli didn’t remove any more clothes.

Argentina were desperate now, throwing everything forward but for all their efforts they created very little in the way of chances. A story of their tournament. Otamendi was lucky to stay on the pitch as Argentina knew they were beat.

Any relief the Manchester City defender felt when he avoided an early bath was almost wiped out when Rakitic’s resulting freekick sailed over the wall and cannoned back off the crossbar. A close shave. 3-0 would’ve been an embarrassing scoreline.

And then, in the dying embers of the match, Croatia broke in numbers and it was the combination of Kovacic and Rakitic which rolled the ball into the net. Now it was 3-0 and now it was embarrassing.

Argentina need Nigeria to help them out tomorrow as their fate is out of their hands now. If Iceland manage to win they’d only need a point against Croatia in the final group game. This, of course, assuming Argentina can beat Nigeria.