XtraTime Web Desk: Argentina’s head Coach Jorge Sampaoli on Saturday said despite of trying everything he failed to bring out the best of Argentine star Lionel Messi who might have played his last World Cup game during his team’s 4-3 loss against France in the first pre-quarterfinal.
Playing in a “false nine” role, Messi capped a disappointing tournament with another subdued display at Kazan Arena as Argentina bowed out of the last 16 with a 4-3 defeat.
“We have the best player in the world and we had to try to create collective situations to really use that player who can have many brilliant moments,” Sampaoli told reporters.
“We tried many different tactics — surround him, create space for him … we tried to use everything we had to allow him to do what he can do.
“Sometimes we managed it, sometimes we didn’t.”
A serial meddler with selections and positioning, Sampaoli sprang a surprise by dropping Gonzalo Higuain from the starting line-up and including Cristian Pavon at the front of a rejigged 4-3-3 formation.
Sampaoli’s players struggled with the set-up and could have been two goals down in the opening quarter, blitzed on the counter-attack by the pace of Kylian Mbappe.
A piece of Messi inspiration set up Argentina’s second goal for Gabriel Mercado to put the South Americans 2-1 ahead just after halftime.
But the Barcelona forward was blanketed by N’Golo Kante and Blaise Matuidi, and he was unable to spark a rally after Mbappe scored twice in four second-half minutes.
Sampaoli said his players lacked a “clear idea” of what they were doing but he studiously avoided taking sole blame for their confusion throughout a scratchy World Cup.
“All this is very recent. It’s too soon to analyse concrete mistakes we could have made,” said the coach, who added that he would not decide on his future immediately.