Sampaoli continues amidst rumours as Argentina change plans

Despite news report suggesting that coach Jorge Sampaoli was told by AFA president Claudio Tapia yesterday that he no longer held decision-making powers, it seems Argentina are re-grouping.

There was turbulence in the Argentina squad after their 3-0 defeat to Croatia and following the match, Sergio Aguero had even reacted angrily to Sampaoli’s post-match comment where the coach had said ‘players failed to adapt to his tactics’.

However, TyC Sports, who had earlier reported the news about Sampaoli now suggests that after quite the turmoil, turbulence and hectic day of meetings between the squad and the AFA President, some sort of normality has returned in the Argentina camp.

This morning, Sampaoli was present in the training session and showed his ideas to the team for Tuesday’s crucial match against Nigeria.

As expected, there was a change of scheme as Argentina trained today. Sampaoli returned to a back four after he had tried a three-at-the-back system unsuccessfully against Croatia. Franco Armani is expected to start in front of goal following Willy Caballero’s howler.

Perhaps the most interesting facet of today’s session was that Gonzalo Higuain partnered Lionel Messi in attack with Angel Di Maria also being part of the plan.

According to TyC sports, Argentina could line up with Armani, Salvio, Otamendi, Mercado, Tagliafico; E. Pérez, Mascherano, Banega, Di María; Messi and Higuain.  

Claudio Tapia in a press conference also suggested that there was a deliberate ploy to destabilize the national team.

‘It would seem that they want to damage the image of the National Team,” he said while commenting on some of the news reports regarding the Argentina team.

Midfielder Javier Mascherano flatly denied that there was any kind of problems between the coach and the players.

"From an analysis in particular, we know that the situation is complex, it is no joke and that we must unite, give opinions and try to do everything possible for the team to arrive with as much clarity as possible before the next match,” he concluded.