WHAT IT COULD MEAN IF ARGENTINA LOSE TO QATAR (OR DON'T GET OUT OF THE GROUP STAGE)

                
                   After watching Argentina play for the last five years, it is quite evident this is the rarest of occasions in human sporting history: the actual act of a player having to play against two teams...in one game.
                  Such is the surreal oddity of watching this Argentina team that has mulled about with the same squad members for the last decade (until Scaloni sprinkled in a few newcomers this tournament), a team stuck in a nostalgia act of the past, hoping and waiting for Di Maria, Otamendi, Armani and other old flames to get their shit together. 
                From the rotating cast of managers (from Sabella to Tata Martino) there has never been any consistency in the selection process, this was management completely devoid of identity or integrity and an uncommunicative, vaguely bored manner between the all-star European veterans and wanna-be prospects on the pitch.
                  To say the state of play for Argentina has improved in this Copa America from the disaster of the 2018 World Cup isn't to say much (which somehow Argentina still got through to the knockout stages and had no palpable shame in losing 4-3 to the eventual champions, France, the epic and lasting image of a team of the future, for the future, passing up a team of the past who never could quite do it). 
                  But this time around, some small, pity-credit must be given: Instead of folding after some horrendous errors just like Willy Cabellero against Croatia in the 2018 World Cup (his error came when the match was still at an intense 0-0), the 2019 Copa America goalkeeper Armani rose to save a penalty, keeping Argentina narrowly in the tournament by the skin of their balls. And though they played well in the second half of the 2-0 loss to Columbia, their impressive 8 shots on target in that half was the total for the entire match and their only smooth attacking moments were met with Columbia scoring 2 goals on the counter attack in devastating, easy and quite clinically awesome fashion. 
                 Manager Lionel Scaloni hasn't picked a proper squad, or figured out his best team prior to the tournament, not at all: for one thing, Real Sociedad's Argentine keeper Geronimo Rulli was one of the best goalkeepers in La Liga this season, yet he's nowhere in this squad (where he should be starting), an absolute travesty; then there's the lack of Manuel Lanzini, just back from long-term injury and looking devastating for West Ham and of course, Sevilla's Ever Banega in the midfield, something that has already exposed Gio Lo Celso, as he's been tasked with tracking deep into midfield to either receive, possess or win back the ball, all of which have taken a toll on his final ball in or around the box and his ability to gravitate towards Messi. 
              Had Scaloni started Banega in midfield with Guido Rodriguez in deep, then positioned Lo Celso as a right attacking mid (always clutching at the center), Banega would've cut out those 40-50 yards of running and wasted intensity from Lo Celso's game in the Copa America. If Scaloni-Feloni (he should be charged with one) balanced the team like this behind Messi, Dybala and Aguero, with de Paul, Lanzini, Di Maria, Matthias Suarez and Lautaro Martinez from the bench, Argentina would see a lot more space for their bombing fullbacks due to the attention drawn in by the creators in the center of the park, thus giving the entire team across the attacking line infinite lanes to run into. 
            This would not only free up Lo Celso and offer space in behind for Aguero's myriad of attacking runs, it would let Lionel Messi dictate the game, making use of his fantastic passing ability out wide to raging fullbacks, mostly we're talking about the runs and tactical brilliance of Nicolas Tagliafico on the left (a guy who had a masterful season at Ajax and was one of the only Argentines who could hold their head high in the aftermath of the 2018 World Cup).
             But let's forget about what Scaloni could've done.
             That's over.
          And frankly, Mr. Shankly, Argentina's Copa America could be, too, and maybe they don't quite care about that since there's another one in 2020 anyway, but maybe they should, since with Neymar out and a likely trip against a Neymar-less Brazil in the semifinals and a grinding, brutal mind-game against Uruguay in the background, Argentina should really give this everything.
             They only have to beat Paraguay and Qatar and they were an Armani palm away from extinction already.                 
            It was astounding to witness the utter lack of belief, the staggering insecurity, the ridiculous fear to make a mistake, all in the name of being faceless soldiers for Lionel Messi, the god, the Jesus, the warrior of Time and Space, the controller of all, to be served and then mutilated by Argentina, the country he's given everything to.
             This inflated sense of Messi's greatness and legend has made all of his Argentine teammates piss their pants in his company, which has usually been on the pitch, in the biggest of matches, embarrassing the main man himself, even as he swims against a rushing current called his own team...
              But now is not the time for heroes lunging into stupid tackles, skying the ball over the bar in a shootout, it is the time for winners, steady, quick and aware while in control.
           It is the time to go out there and assert yourself and say "we are at least better than Qatar!" and I'm still wondering who in that dressing room is saying that?
              Is it the mute Lionel Messi, who has become more vocal with age but has also begun looking like a Vietnam vet witnessing flashbacks when he plays for Argentina now, and it's starting to happen when he plays in the Champions League with Ernesto Valverde as manager at Barcelona, too. 
             This lack of confidence and kick in the ass (and balls) for Messi has been a real wake-up call to the core issues of the club at hand, the lack of a board that has integrity and responsibility in upholding the values of Barcelona as a club itself, the absolute joke of a manager who has no face, a chameleon in a suit and tie, a bona fide jackal of the game of football who never should've been hired...this resembles what has gone on for far too long at the circus that is the Argentina FA: hiring Diego Maradona in a coked out parade of nostalgia, the TV ratings of him physically, crazily passing the torch to Lionel Messi in the 2010 World Cup was too much for them to pass up, but it robbed that team from ever having a chance in that World Cup due to the bizarre selections, substitutions and interpretations of banal tactics by Maradona...the man was all over the place.
             They've become a joke at the Argentine FA, letting the press openly go after the players, a completely opposite picture to the way that Portugal's press goes after Cristiano Ronaldo for his criminal behavior, they Argentine press has just gone and ripped them open and pulled their entrails apart before the world for football results.
             But the players haven't helped themselves, either, they've looked a shell of themselves for years, even when breaking out some breathtaking goals during a few choice blowouts of smaller teams, they've only pulled out a few quality wins against top opposition and their egos have taken over.
            This has to end now or history will try to damn Lionel Messi for no reason at all, even whilst saving Argentina at every chance he could, his most recent rescue of Le Albiceleste was his penalty in the 1-1 draw vs Paraguay. 
             By hook or by crook, they should surely beat Qatar, right? 
             But I'm afraid, with how Qatar have been ruthlessly coached in circulating the ball in an impressive fashion, this is a team that could out-run and out-pass this ghost on the other side into the ground.
            This is all due to Felix Sanchez Bas, a Barca homeboy who was on a staff that coached their legendary youth squad of Pique, Messi, Fabregas and Busquets amongst many, many other legendary or world class players from 1996-2006. 
             This is a team that has an identity and plays it up to the hilt: they crushed everyone in the AFC Cup for the 1st time ever in their history earlier this year, scoring 19 goals and conceding one goal over the course of the tournament, an impressive stat for such a small nation. 
              In the Copa America so far, participating as an invited nation for the first time ever, they nearly beat Columbia and played against them admirably in a late 1-0 loss to an 86th minute Duvan Zapata goal. But they followed that up with a 2-2 draw against Japan, a team they recently dispatched in the AFC Cup Final this winter.
             Qatar is a team that can beat Argentina, they can exploit the tired, lethargic nature of these players and force them to shit their pants especially if the porous back-line of Armani, Otamendi and Pazzella allow an early goal, it could be out of their control completely. 
              Sadly, this team will need Lionel Messi to drag them over the line as he has always done. 
              They will need him to generate 3+ goals, maybe even a hat trick of goals won't do the job: in the event of a high scoring draw, Argentina would be eliminated from advancing to the knockout stage...that is how close to the edge they are from becoming the current biggest joke of international football, all with the greatest player on planet earth, the greatest striker in England for the last decade (Aguero, below) and many world class role players. But due to this "monster" in their heads, this absolute psychological impasse, it is shocking how unpredictable, savagely undisciplined and disgracefully unsavory this team can be at their worst. 
               If they would only be able to press Qatar like hounds, rushing them into mistakes at the back under the pressure of such a "big" nation, if only they could give a damn enough to go after the ball, go to it and take it away and then make Qatar pay the price on the fast break, then Argentina could be in business.
               I hate to predict they'd win, because it's always way too close to call for these guys, nothing is ever certain and certainty is usually a bed of nails. 
               But I'm going to go with the man I've followed since he became a Barcelona senior player (the guy who I knew was a freak of nature once my hero at the time, Ronaldinho, started smiling and laughing every time Messi did something special). In this game, Lionel Messi will grab 2 goals, 1 assist and Argentina will win a ridiculously animalistic, primal and well-intentioned 3-2 shootout against Qatar that throws caution, hubris and defending to the wind, but they will slightly get through after a Columbia victory over Paraguay enables them to advance. 
                A high-scoring draw puts Qatar through on a +1 goal differential over Argentina, so it's win or go home for the Le Albiceleste.
                Can they do it?
            It's scary to say they can, when usually even they think they can't.