It’s not everyday that Argentina gets slapped 3-0 in the World Cup group stages. Even though the South American giants faced an equally strong Croatian team, the internet just can’t quite deal with the team’s dismal performance last night.
According to Google trends, search traffic spiked worldwide during the game, marking notable peaks for scorer of the second goal, Luca Modric, and Argentina’s talisman, Lionel Messi. At one point, searches for Modric, who plays for Real Madrid, eclipsed those for Messi.
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Over on Twitter though, it was all Argentina. Terrible, terrible Argentina. Facepalming shots of Messi and Argentine legend Maradona became the staple reactions for the loss.
Maradona reaction says it all….#WorldCup #ARG #ARGCRO #argentina #messi pic.twitter.com/lXLxHF8V93
— Mujtaba Usmani
(@mujtaba_usmani) June 21, 2018
No matter what happened, we can’t abandon #Argentina
. pic.twitter.com/JcKjfqZ0eI — Munther Albalushi (@munther__189) June 22, 2018
While others acknowledged that Messi can’t always save the ailing team.
“6 our [sic] of Argentina’s 7 wins in qualifiers came with Messi on the pitch. They collected 19 points in 10 games with him and and only 7 in 8 games without him,” one user reminded.
I mean…
#Messi #Argentina #WorldCupRussia2018 #WorldCup18 pic.twitter.com/mVXpNqJlYs — Under The Tifo (@UnderTheTifo) June 21, 2018
#Argentina had no team tonight. It had eleven radarless, demotivated, disjointed, & indecisive players, who looked defeated before it happened, & when it finally did, surrendered without an ounce of a fight – except literally. They owe their fans an apology. #WorldCup
— Ivan Rugambwa
(@I_Rugambwa) June 21, 2018
#Messi dragged #Argentina to the #WorldCup, scoring seven goals, including three in a must-win against Ecuador.
6 our of Argentina’s 7 wins in qualifiers came with Messi on the pitch. They collected 19 points in 10 games with him and and only 7 in 8 games without him. #ARGCRO
— David Kappel (@kappilinho) June 21, 2018
Those Blaming Lionel Messi Must Remember If It Wasn’t For His Hat-trick In The Must Win Qualifier, #Argentina Wouldn’t Have Even Qualified For The #WorldCupRussia2018
Football Is A Team Game,An Individual Can’t Win You Games On A Consistent Basis.#Messi
#WorldCup #ARGCRO pic.twitter.com/1MbKomvOvf — Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadejaaaa) June 21, 2018
Some highlighted how poorly Messi’s teammates played on the night, with Willy Caballero, the Argentine goalkeeper, coming under particular scrutiny.
Doesn’t matter even if you have world’s best player in your team when you have team mates like this #ARGvCRO #Fifa2018Russia #argentina pic.twitter.com/jxV0kK2Y9Y
— Krishna K (@krishkarumanchi) June 21, 2018
Others were simply having a good laugh at the team’s misfortune; those others being England fans.
#WorldCup #Argentina #Messi
Dont Crypic.twitter.com/WJ8s9NH8UR —
Brutus Maximus Beast of British (@Brutusmaximus) June 21, 2018
Argentina’s fate — after drawing their first match with Iceland and losing this to Croatia, will need to beat Nigeria and hope that the latter beats Iceland in their final match. Furthermore, Croatia will have to beat Iceland too.
And yes, Nigeria too can still qualify, but they’ll have to beat Iceland or Argentina.
Feature image: william brawley via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY)
