It is still hard to see Argentina progressing into the latter stages of this tournament without significant improvement, even if Messi goes on to put in performances for the ages. This was the oldest starting side in the country’s hugely successful World Cup history – with an average age of 30 years and 189 days – but it is a far from settled one.
Sampaoli made five changes from the Croatia defeat, including an international debut for 31-year-old keeper Franco Armani after Willy Caballero’s blunder. Some of those changes, like starting Banega, were overdue, but the decision to drop Sergio Aguero and then wait until two other substitutions had been made and 80 minutes had passed before introducing him was bizarre.
If Sampaoli has lost control of the dressing room, Mascherano is supposedly his side’s real leader. But the former Barcelona and Liverpool defensive midfielder, who now plays for Chinese club Hebei China Fortune, looks shorn of his former talents, failing to offer protection to a shaky defence. While not the most blatant example of holding, his grabbing of Leon Balogun in the box from a corner was naive and rightly penalised. Is there any way he can rally his team-mates for the challenge of France?
“It is very hard to see how Argentina can stand up to the French – if they are going to mount any challenge, it will have to be like it was four years ago when they played on individual talent,” said BBC Sport’s South American football expert Tim Vickery.