Lionel Messi can’t win the World Cup on his own

Lionel Messi needs support from both his highly-talented teammates as well as Argentina’s raucous fans.

A team with Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Paulo Dybala shouldn’t be this bad.

Yes, they had a terrible qualifying campaign and needed their Messiah (you know who) to save them from embarrassment. And of course he did, scoring a stunning hat-trick against a brutish Ecuador side.

But with top quality individuals playing in top quality teams, few fans could wrap their heads around the struggles affecting the team.

Many have argued that Jorge Sampaoli, who took over midway through the qualifying campaign, hadn’t had enough time to implement his message.

Today, that argument has no leg to stand on. Sampaoli is an aggressive manager, with aggressive ideas. Another student of the legendary, but eccentric Marcelo Bielsa, Sampaoli’s high pressing, high energy style has worked wonderfully before. He won the Copa America with Chile, beating Argentina in the final, before taking over at Sevilla, where he led them to a fourth-place finish, playing some spectacular football on the way there.

In each of those cases, however, his teams functioned as a well-oiled machine. Argentina don’t.

Defensively, they are woeful, although if you pay close attention, you catch glimpses of the high press. They played aggressively during the friendly against Spain, but were undone by stupid defensive errors. Despite being three or four goals down they continued to play with bravery up front, but were constantly undone at the back.

Next: Lionel Messi's Last Stand

The lack of defensive leaders is worrying. Nicolas Otamendi has come off a stunning season with Manchester City and needs to take responsibility. He needs to be the one who organizes the back. Marcos Rojo is prone to an error and a rash challenge; he has to stamp both of those out of his game.

Gonzalo Higuain is derided heavily in his native country and with good reason. The number of big chances he misses in big games cannot be ignored. But he’s still a striker at the very top level. Alongside Aguero, Messi and Dybala, he’s part of one of the best attacks at this tournament.

Argentina weren’t awful against Iceland, but the game was a great study of contrasting styles. Iceland had a clear identity to their play. They had studied Argentina brilliantly and executed their game plan to perfection.

But Argentina’s entire game revolved around Messi. Aguero got the goal, but he wasn’t the threat he usually is. Angel Di Maria was dreadful throughout the game. Despite having acres of space on the left he was predictable in his dribbles and his crosses very rarely rose above three feet.

Argentina’s plan was to pass to Messi and wait. It was a passive tactical plan that had no coherent idea. This can’t be Argentina’s Plan A, B and C.

Higuain wasn’t thrown on till after the 80th minute and Dybala didn’t even get off the bench. He recently addressed questions surrounding whether he can play with Messi. They have to take a chance on him.

Messi is the greatest player in the world, but when he has four players almost double the size of him surrounding him, he can’t do much. Yes, he missed the penalty, but that in itself is an anomaly. Players around him need to step up into the limelight and support Messi on the field rather than off it.

Where is the tactical acumen and unity as a side? If everything is to go through Messi, there’s still a lot more his teammates can provide. Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal are the obvious example of a one-man team. But Fernando Santos has developed a formula that works perfectly and benefits both the team and Ronaldo. Sampaoli needs to do the same.

Argentina’s next opponents, Croatia, will pose a similar obstacle to Iceland. The team is littered with giants who will stand tall in front of the world’s greatest. But they possess a lot more than just that.

They dispatched an underwhelming Nigeria side 2-0 in their opener. The team didn’t need to excite. They needed to win. They performed with great professionalism and look like a team that mean business. This Croatian side are well balanced and filled with professionals who play at the top level.

Despite Zlatko Dalic saying Croatia will attack Argentina, they don’t need to. Victory in the first round of fixtures puts everyone at ease. Croatia will be quietly confident. Argentina will not. Argentina need a win. They have to attack Croatia, which will leave loads of space at the back. This is a Croatia side with the pace and precision of Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric. This Croatian pair must be frothing at the mouth at the idea of receiving balls from Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric and running at the hapless Rojo and Otamendi.

Diego Maradona came out and defended Messi, but publicly attacked Jorge Sampaoli in the same interview. Fans are frustrated Messi isn’t delivering in the biggest stage. Messi’s teammates are in support of him off the pitch but don’t deliver on it. This has to stop. Now more than ever, Argentina need to be a unit. This can only happen if every level works together. From the manager’s vision, to the players on the pitch, to the fans in the stand, Argentina need unity.

Messi is a phenomenal player, and will deliver when the time is right, but he cannot be Argentina’s Plan A, B, C and D. This Argentinian side can be great, but another underwhelming performance by Messi and his teammates on Thursday could result in an unthinkable group stage exit.