Argentina Dismisses Coach, Jorge Sampaoli After Poor World Cup Performance

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has made known that Jorge Sampaoli will not proceed as national team head coach following a chaotic World Cup.

A 3-0 group stage defeat to Croatia following a 1-1 draw with Iceland left Argentina on the edge of a humiliating exit in Russia, earlier than nearly squeezing through to the knockout phase due to a 2-1 triumph over Nigeria. That luck failed in the final 16 against France, nevertheless, once they had been crushed 4-3 by the eventual tournament winners.

Sampaoli acquired the Argentina job after building a stable reputation in charge of Universidad de Chile, Chile and Sevilla, leaving the Spanish club at the end of the 2016-17 season after guiding them to Champions League soccer.

Given the regard many held Sampaoli in, there was great optimism that he would finish Argentina’s interval of underachievement and eventually find the steadiness between acheiving the best out of Lionel Messi and making the team a success.

However very little has gone well for Sampaoli and Argentina since he took over in May 2017, with the coach’s steady tactical tweaks and unusual selection choices baffling many.

All through the World Cup, Argentina’s deficiencies through the middle and at the back continued to be exploited and France tore them apart at times, taking full advantage of their lack of pace, however Sampaoli did not make alterations to handle the issues.

An AFA statement released on Sunday read:

“The Argentine Football Association and Jorge Sampaoli reached a mutual agreement to finish their cycle under the Argentine national team.”

According to reports, Sampaoli had been in danger of losing his job as early as the aftermath of their second World Cup game, the 3-0 loss to Croatia.

Claims in Argentina’s media suggested several players had urged the AFA to sack the coach and replace him with Jorge Burruchaga, the team’s general manager.

He managed to cling on and lead them out of the group, but as soon as Argentina failed to get beyond France in Kazan, Sampaoli looked doomed.