It may not be the worst possible, but Argentina's start to the Copa America has been nothing short of a nightmare.
Finalists in 2015 and 2016, where they lost to Chile on penalties, the 14-time champions followed up their disastrous 2-0 defeat by Colombia by picking up a barely-deserved draw against Paraguay on Wednesday night.
Lionel Messi once again proved the saviour, his second-half penalty essentially keeping his country's hopes alive and saving them from the embarrassment of an early exit. Now they face Qatar on Sunday where the prospect of humiliation is even higher and nothing less than a win will see them progress to the next phase.
The Argentine's talisman scored from the spot to keep their tournament alive on Wednesday
Even then, four points may still not be enough to guarantee them second spot, nor a place in the last eight as one of the best third placed finishers. If it is, a quarter-final showdown with favourites Brazil in Porto Alegre would most likely await them.
Bottom of their group below even Qatar, a showdown with the hosts in their current condition would surely spell a painful exit for Messi and his team-mates - so what has gone wrong?
Naturally, just like it was during the 2018 World Cup where La Albiceleste fell to eventual winners France, the reaction from the Argentine press has been scathing.
While there have been no mock funerals or minute's silence on television yet, as there were after the humbling 3-0 group-stage loss to Croatia, coach Lionel Scaloni has been on the receiving end of most of the scorn.
With anything less than victory in the final at the Maracana in Rio on July 7, he is tipped to find himself out of a job in the same manner his predecessor and former boss Jorge Sampaoli was.
Appointed caretaker and then handed the hotseat full time, the manager remarked that Argentina boasted 'pure dynamite' after a 5-1 friendly win against Nicaragua almost a fortnight ago.
In the words of local sports daily Ole on Thursday morning however, it has been claimed that Argentina has instead come to the Copa America 'lacking fire power to subdue and damage its opponents'.
The criticism continued; the national team 'looks like a firework of bad quality, those sold on the street on the eve of the fiestas, which can explode in your hands when you light them.'
Argentina can still qualify but need to win the game against Qatar to stand any chance
In addition, indecisiveness over tactics - choosing between a 4-4-2 a 4-3-3, or having to revert to a 2-8-0 when the heat is on - was also scoffed at.
Ahead of their Group B fixture in Belo Horizonte on Thursday, Scaloni made four changes from the opening loss against Colombia. The most notable of them was dropping Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria for promising pair Lautaro Martinez of Inter Milan and Udinese's Rodrigo De Paul.
Despite the nod, Scaloni still managed to infuriate Martinez when bringing him off in the 67th minute for Di Maria, a change heavily blasted by Ole.
'The coach had no better idea than to take Lautaro off and put Di Maria on, and so we put the game in the freezer,' wrote Leo Farinella.
'We stopped the momentum in which it seemed that our opponent was there for the taking,' the piece added.
With their article 'The Club of Enemies', Ole have suggested that there is a rift between the squad's veteran players of the Golden Generation and the younger ones coming through, therefore Scaloni bears the brunt as he chooses between them.
'It has been said that there is a lack of respect towards the Silver Generation from the "Club of Friends",' referring to the war between Martinez and his age group (the Silver Generation) and Messi and the established names (Club of Friends) in the dressing room.
Indeed, Messi's decision to adopt Di Maria's love heart celebration after his penalty has been read as a tribute to his dropped team-mate, but a thorough investigation into what is troubling the five-times Ballon d'Or winner has also been launched.
'It's true that on the field he suffers... for Messi, something is wrong,' penned Sergio Maffei, prior to digging in further.
'Lionel Messi doesn't give up like the other times, but he's no longer decisive,' quipped national newspaper La Nacion elsewhere.
'It's frustrating not to win,' the player said himself. 'We played two games and we didn't get the three points in any of them.
'It's unthinkable, because it's fundamental to be calm [and] now we have not choice but to qualify,' the Barcelona star concluded.
To do that, though, Argentina must break down a well organised Qatari defence that held the fort until the 86th minute in a 1-0 loss against Colombia.
Argetnina's own backline, manned by the platinum-haired Nicolas Otamendi and German Pezzella is the disaster it has long been - a worry considering at times the Qataris broke free against Colombia. It is these types of counters that Argentina are prone to succumb to.
Yet at left back however, the talented Nicolas Tagliafico - who excelled during Ajax's run to the Champions League semi-final - provides the chance of building up play from the back.
With De Paul on the left wing and midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, some form of passing fluidity would see Messi, alongside either Martinez or Aguero, better served.
Put simply, hitting and hoping will not work against Qatar. Delivery, as well as composure, must be improved.
Scaloni has until Sunday to put things right and avoid disaster.
If he can't find the right harmony between young and old by then to reverse his country's fortunes, this could prove his last sip from the poisoned chalice.
musbimrsy
701
Longlife2000
120
True Story..💔😭
AravindJediah
76
Why this coach can't see reality?😒...Messi is often crowded out when he gets the ball...cant he see that
sibbcry
67
this player obviously win with quatar believe that
zuucdeiouz
61
Messi didn't save Argentina. Armani Argentina's goal keeper saved them .. anyway this coach should try by all means to include dyabala on the starting eleven as Messi seems to be the target for the opponents, maybe this could also reduce the pressure from Messi and we all know what he is capable of
fiycdopuyz
59
very good article and points to note: 1) club friends :messi insists to play with his friends from European clubs.Same attitude he does at barca. it's no longer a team game but a friend game.Bad leadership and greed.Solution is that messi should be stripped off captain and be benched for the young to play a team's football 2)messi himself is seeking for sympathy once he sees they'll loss.He takes the ball intentionally in the midst of 3 or 4 opponents to drib just to show he's efforts.it can't go this way .let him release the ball.The highest Argentine player who gives more balls away is messi . 3)truth is messi is the first to accept defeat.Look at his body language once a goal is scored against them .why hide all these? 4) look at argentins matches without messi when he resigned after the world cup you see a pure team ie collective games. 5) what excuse can we ever give for Argentina being the last in a group composed of Qatar ,Paraguay ,and Columbia.Qatar has played every team argentina has played in the group but are still the last.why ?This can't definitely be the error of the coach but the all the players who have been playing .I mean all not excluding one. 5)truth is Argentina got good players but forming a team in the field is the problem.The players all lack team spirit. To this effect it's clear they don't even know their problem or they know but hiding it .Period. 6)My solution :the country needs patience and should be ready to allow the coach build the team gruadually to maturity.Meaning he has to scrape away all the old players e.g. messi di Maria aguero otmendi rojo and build his young team to maturity. 7)without (6) above Argentina won't go anywhere.
mrrafayel
56
I wonder what kind of coaches managed Messi this days. They don't understand the guy at all. All thy need to do is play Messi in his natural habitat as a RW and there will be flood gate opened. But instead, they want him operate from the mid. They are just blind.
jondilru
51
wuwacen
49
They are too dependent on Messi. He has to take the ball from the defenders to the midfield and towards the goal and the wingers and attacker like Aguero and Di Maria are not preforming like the actually do with their club ..... The manager is like a lazy dude he knows the problem that Messi is the one who keeps saving their name but still pushing him to do the impossible with a team that can even do the possible.....I remember watch old highlights of Argentina there were good players but this c'mon it's disgraceful to the Country
shevaunie-senior
43
Bench messi, problem solved
Shebeerchebbi
38
when messi came back to argentina he shud hve strictly told argengina board to appoint a good coach instead of inexprnced scaloni.... so the problem was messis.bcoz he is footballer with a lot of exprnce.he knows tht coach is big part of the team and he shud hve solved tht prblem.now players playing like they dnt knw the tactics ,formation and game plan.bcoz their coach dnr knw anythng.
DonCorleon
9
True Story..💔😭
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