Argentina slapped silly by Spain
Madrid
Argentina’s Lionel Messi looked on from the stands for as long as he could but with 10 minutes remaining, he had seen enough. Cameras captured the injured captain leaving his seat, presumably to head for the dressing room to console his distraught team-mates, but the image was symbolic as his hapless team were humiliated 6-1 by a rampaging Spain side.
“They’ve really given us a slap in the face,” was how stunned Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli summed up the humiliating World Cup warm-up defeat in his post-match news conference.
“I feel bad for the boys, I take the responsibility. In the second half, we didn’t have balance or solidity and we were all at sea.”
Argentina may have swept Italy aside 2-0 on Friday without Messi, who has a muscle injury, but context is required, given that the Italians failed to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1958 after a 1-0 playoff defeat by Sweden.
Granted, there was no Angel di Maria or Sergio Aguero for Argentina on Tuesday, either, but when it came to the crunch, the players wilted. Too often they rely on their Messi get out of jail card.
It was Messi who fired a hat-trick in their final qualifier against Ecuador – after they went 1-0 down inside the first minute – to secure their spot at the World Cup in Russia.
Without him against top level opposition in Madrid, Argentina wilted and to describe their defending as haphazard is generous.– Reuters