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Argentina might have made it to the round of 16 in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, but, Alejandro Sabella, the manager of the team, must know that it’s because of the brilliance of an individual player and not because of the team effort.
Argentina would probably have been stopped on draw by Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iran if Lionel Messi, the Barcelona superstar, had not scored a brilliant goal on both the occasions and guided them to victory.

Argentina has been the favourites to lift the World Cup trophy this year. They have got destructive players up front who can tear teams apart when in great rhythm, but, both Bosnia and Iran managed to put them into trouble and that should be a concern for Sabella. Yes, his team has got away in these two games even after playing not so well and that’s probably because the opponents were not of that high quality, but, that’s not going to happen in the knockouts.
The teams that Argentina will be facing in the knockouts will be better balanced and of better quality and thus, the men in White and Sky Blue will have to play much better.

Meanwhile, talking to the reporters after the game against Iran, Sabella hailed Messi for coming in the rescue of the team twice consecutively. The Argentina boss said, “We’ve got a legendary player in the form of Lionel. He is the kind of player whom every manager would want to work with. He is so cool under pressure.”

Argentina has to play one more game in the group round before starting their preparations for the big knockout games. They will be locking horns with Nigeria on Wednesday at Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre. That match will start at 1 pm local time.