Sampaoli will remain in charge of Argentina against Nigeria
Despite rumours to the contrary, the AFA will stick with their coach for now
Jorge Sampaoli will take charge of Argentina in their game against Nigeria on Tuesday, June 26. Even though it had been suggested on Friday the coach would be sacked before the Albiceleste's third game at the World Cup in Russia, the AFA have decided not to take such drastic measures at this stage of the tournament.
After a poor debut against Iceland (1-1), Argentina suffered a genuine fiasco against Croatia (0-3) on Thursday which left Lionel Messi's side on the brink of elimination, pending the result of Iceland's games against Nigeria and Croatia.
The criticism for Sampaoli and the players since has been fierce following a performance which was poor on both a collective and an individual level. The Argentina coach has been at the centre of the debate and it had been claimed he could leave his post.
Despite everything, though, the rumours he could be fired have been proved incorrect. Argentina will train on Friday afternoon behind closed doors as they begin to analyse with a little more calm what went wrong against Croatia, before turning their thoughts to the Nigeria game.
The AFA have decided to postpone any bigger decisions until the end of their participation in the World Cup -- whenever that may be -- when the team returns to Argentina.
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