Sampaoli departure changes little for Argentina
Jorge Sampaoli’s dismissal means Argentina are searching for their ninth manager since 2004. The problems run much deeper than the coach.
On Sunday, while the rest of the soccer world was enjoying a scintillating World Cup final, the Argentine Football Association was completing the formal steps to remove Jorge Sampaoli as manager, a move that became all but guaranteed following La Albiceleste’s defeat to France in the round of 16. However justified this decision is, the problem with Argentina’s national side won’t be fixed by sacking the manager.
Since Marcelo Bielsa led them to Olympic gold in 2004, Argentina haven’t had a manager for more than three years. Alejandro Sabella, who led them to the 2014 World Cup final, has been their longest serving coach in that period, serving two years and 11 months. But the instability isn’t only down to turnover in the dugout. If it was, the AFA’s decision wouldn’t be nearly as arduous.
The AFA’s biggest problem is its own continued incompetence. Managerial hires have gotten expensive, and though they only owe Sampaoli $2 million, a drop in the bucket compared to his remaining contract, the AFA was as recently as 2016 (and may still be) under FIFA financial administration, and the fiscal belts are only going to tighten if it adds an expensive new manager’s contract on top of the old one.
Preferred candidates, such as Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone (who himself blasted the national team during their poor World Cup) and Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino, would cost a pretty penny, and based on the standards they’ve come to expect at club level, and wouldn’t take well to working under a bad administration. Even cheaper domestic candidates, such as River Plate’s Marcelo Gallardo, have voiced disdain for the AFA.
How has it come to this? For over three decades, the AFA was run under the all-encompassing iron fist of Julio Grondona, which allowed for funding irregularities and general incompetence to fester. Since his death, the leadership void has only grown, which has seen Argentina’s once-vaunted youth system suffer in quality, resulting in an imbalanced team, tactically and in terms of talent.
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This brings us to the not-so-small matter of the makeup of the current squad, the oldest in Russia this summer. Lionel Messi already retired from international play once, and may do so again before Qatar 2022, when he’d be 34. Messi’s not the only one. All three World Cup goalkeepers, Javier Mascherano, Lucas Biglia, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, and Nicolas Otamendi have all either retired or indicated they won’t be around for the next World Cup. There’s also the issue of Mauro Icardi, who should be in his prime in 2022 but is on bad terms with the AFA.
Whether Messi continues or not, it’s not out of the realm of possibility Argentina miss out on the next World Cup altogether. If they do make it, it’s hard to see a scenario in which this dark cloud of administrative nonsense doesn’t come along for the ride. This could mark the beginning of a long, painful spin into mediocrity for the two-time World Champions. Sampaoli is gone, but the problems with Argentinian soccer remain very much the same.