Argentina is already out of the World Cup

Argentina has already been left without a place in the World Cup and among the voices of football that make analysis and diagnoses, one of the most authoritative is that of César Luis Menotti. In his regular column in the Spanish newspaper Sport, the World Cup-winning coach in 1978 gave his opinion on the performance of the national team and also on Lionel Messi.

"Argentina's situation was the chronicle of a death foretold. The miracle would have been something else, it would have even been dangerous because when you win, everything is fine. Of course I would be happy, but the victory would belong to the players, not to football. There was no guarantee that Argentina would be a solid team, but they are competitive, that's something they never lack. We qualified from despair and for many years it was Messi who solved all the problems, allowing us to pass the first round of the World Cup. Without him, I don't know if we would have made it."

"Argentina has a price because Messi plays. If Messi plays, it has an economic value, and there has even been abuse. There was also that economic value with Diego. Today, without Messi, Argentina does not exist in the world of business. And that criterion has closed the possibility of its development. I have been saying it for a long time: organization, idea, experimentation on the idea... But it arrived with uncertainty, without clarity among the players or the coach."

"It is very difficult to solve without a serious project, without a leadership that represents Argentine football. A team is built like an orchestra, based on rehearsal and search. You have to have a team."

"I insist on the need to create through a project, an idea, and a coach who earns the players' respect through knowledge. I think of Messi at Barcelona, who played with a lot of good players, great players, but always linked to the construction of a clear idea."

"Returning to Argentina, in the loneliness caused by not finding a partnership, it ends up in the mistaken helplessness of wanting to win the game on his own. You won't find another Maradona, but in Argentine football, except for Messi, there are players as good as those in Europe. With an advantage, you have the possibility to train, to assemble a national team."