Sampaoli rules out quitting as Argentina coach after World Cup failure

Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli has ruled out quitting his job after his side were knocked out of the World Cup by France on Saturday, losing 4-3. 

Asked afterwards if he would resign, he said: "For me, the fact of being here and being able to be where I wanted to be [in charge of Argentina] makes me not want to evaluate stepping aside." 

However, he did admit that Argentina, who played Lionel Messi as a false nine against France, changing their side again, didn't have a clear idea in Russia. 

"I think we adapted to necessity maybe rather than having a clear idea," he added. "We had a clear need and that was our need. We had to win, that was our main goal so maybe that was stronger than our football concept.

"We have the best player in the world and had to try and create collective situations to really use that player. We tried many different tactics: surround him, create positions for him. Sometimes we managed to allow him do what he can do, other times we didn’t."

Asked if crashing out at this stage is a failure, Sampaoli said: "I don’t like that word, but it’s very frustrating because in every training session I tried to create an identity for my team. I don’t think there were many differences in the game development, we went for possession, [France] went for counters. 

"Even though we know we had very strong opponents, we really fought. We had chances and nearly equalised. Maybe we didn’t have so much time to work together but I’m convinced Argentine football has very, very good players and young players."