It never looked certain for Argentina. There were always questions left to answer but obscured by the euphoria, anxiety and demands of their country, something felt off. Drawing with Iceland, a moral loss, showed the team’s unease, but pundits pardoned a team that faced a fully parked bus.
Croatia would be the real test. The quiet might of their midfield, featuring Real Madrid's conductor and lead architect, Luka Modric, promised a game of back and forths where Argentina would prosper by taking advantage of gaps. Argentinian media listened to Modric who, outlining his tactics, said Croatia would cut off Javier Mascherano and added one sharp line: "Messi can't do it all." Did Sampaoli listen?
The pressure of two World Cups sitting in their trophy case, the dreams of 40 million Argentinian fans, the spectre of Diego Maradona’s past brilliance and his physical presence in the box seats, proved too much in a 3-0 defeat. La Albiceleste crumbled in a match that featured 33 fouls and seven yellow cards.
Maradona cried. If the spirit of Argentinian machismo weeps, it’s fair game for everyone else, and so Argentinian journalists let it pour through their news and analysis immediately after match.
Diario Olé quickly led its site with with a pun full of pain: "Knights of Anguish", a pun on the Chelsea goalkeeper Willy Caballero's surname.
Inside was a full analysis of the match, prefaced with a paragraph of stark lines, the worst fears of Argentinian hopefuls: "Argentina lost hard … and is at the brink of elimination from the World Cup. " The writer, Diego Macias, continued serving hard truths fans would have declared impossible before the match: "We can play worse than we did against Croatia. We can suffer one of the biggest howlers of World Cup history. We can see the best player have the worst game of his career."
Olé highlighted this line at the end of the graph, in their signature bright green:
Caballeros de una angustia que duele en el alma de tantos argentinos que se vinieron hasta la otra parte del mundo con la ilusión de al menos pelearla.
That is: “They’re the knights of the anguish that pains the soul of so many Argentinians that traveled across the world with the dream of at least fighting for the cup.”
Its competitor, El Gráfico, lauded for its 99-year history and cherished tradition and for 139 covers featuring Maradona, but known for not having adjusted well to the digital age, had not updated its site, with Peru's elimination still leading up to an hour after the final whistle.
But Olé could only be outdone by one: the television tabloid channel Crónica TV (watch live at your own risk), notorious for its alarmist red band covers, accompanied by a further alarming trumpet fanfare (lower the volume before clicking on that). In Buenos Aires, at a fan gathering, it brought its microphones, looking to get a rise from the distraught.
They dubbed them “the faces of pain”. Not a second had passed before they asked a man: “Who was the last worst on the field?” Mascherano took the wooden spoon.
“Is Messi better on the PlayStation than in real life?” the presenter asked another.
Only one newspaper was able to keep it together. Immediately after the match, La Nación, Argentina's leading centre-right daily known for its affinity with the Argentinian military, went with a sober 150-word match report, leaving the "bronca" (anger) of 40 million Argentinians out of it and sticking to the facts … the headline: "Argentina embarrassed against Croatia as their World Cup future is in check."
It pointed to Sampaoli’s tactical substitutions “showing no difference” in team play, and to the squad looking “totally confused” towards the end of the match. It only had enough editorialising in it to describe Caballero’s blunder as “gross”. Is that debatable?
The article extended the criticism with the obvious irony of the situation, pointing to the fact that while Argentina looked like they had come together as a team, Caballero’s failure “who Sampaoli had highlighted as being good with the ball at his feet – condemned the game”.
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