Argentina need magic

The departure of Lionel Messi and his Argentina side from the World Cup on Saturday following a 4-3 defeat against France was perhaps something that the Albiceleste fans had not seen coming or refused to accept.

The team played well in that defeat and could have even won had it not been for the brilliance of one Kylian Mbappe on the Les Bleus side. But even if they had progressed through to the quarterfinals, the Albiceleste would have remained suspect in regards to their ability of winning the title. And if even they would have gone all the way it would not have been fair as far as the beautiful game is concerned.

It is fair to say that Argentina are the most colourful side in the World Cup. But at the same time, they are emotional, which often belies logic. The difference of opinion between the coaching staff and the players led by Messi unfolded a lot of funny stories after their chastening 3-0 defeat against Croatia, where the ageing defence went into hiding. True that a three-back formation of coach Jorge Sampaoli backfired against the Croats, but it hardly addressed the crux of the problem of a golden generation, which has crossed the 30-year mark. A late goal against Nigeria appeared to have put Argentina's floundering World Cup back on track, but it only served as a false dawn and turned into a nightmare a few days later.

When we talk about Argentina, the image of Diego Maradona and his magnificent exploits in the 1986 World Cup always come to the fore. And Argentines want Messi to emulate Maradona whenever he walks onto the pitch sporting the national shirt. This is asking too much even of the best player in the world. Aren't you expecting something that you did not expect of Maradona when he won the title?

Not only that, the whole effort of Argentina as a team was solely focused on Messi. If Messi fails, Argentina fails, and if Messi's magic works, Argentina prevail. Sampaoli also made no secret about that.

“I think we adopted to necessity rather then having a clear concept that we have to win. So that is may be stronger than our football concept.We have the best player in the world and we have to try and create collective situations that allows us to really use that player who can really bring that momentum. We manage our tactics surrounding him -- we tried to use everything that we have to allow him to what he can do. Sometimes we managed to do that, sometimes we did not,” Sampaoli told reporters after his side's elimination from the World Cup.

So where is Plan B when Messi is neutralised? Argentina also do not have so many players coming out through the youth system and it was acknowledged by the Argentine journalists who were travelling with us from Moscow to Kazan.

During that discussion they also gave the impression that Sampaoli is a rubbish coach and they do not even need a coach to win games. The remarks were interesting from a very knowledgeable section of the Argentine media. It was also a shame to see the way they belittled their coach since the Croatia defeat.

Football is a game of 11 players and the manager or coach plays a very important role. And more importantly, it is a game where the pack needs a wolf, not the wolf needing the pack -- Brazil coach Tite will tell you.

Messi will probably play at least one more World Cup. But his and Argentina's dream will remain a distant reality if they keep on looking for magic instead of creating a team that shows magic.