Argentina hasn't been eliminated yet, but they're in bad shape. Here are the scenarios for Argentina advancing from the World Cup group stage.
Croatia 3-0 Argentina, final score. A lot of people were predicting a minor upset for Croatia today, after the group stage performances of these two teams. But no one expected a whooping like this. Argentina's attack never got going. Lionel Messi barely touched the ball. And now Croatia are through to the Round of 16, while Argentina need a lot of help in the other games, plus a win.
This is just brutal defending. Grim stuff.
GOAL Croatia! Ivan Rakitic makes it 3-0 over Argentina! Get out your Stop, Stop, They're Already Dead memes. Croatia just being mean now.
We've now reached the "Real Madrid fan banter" portion of the evening
85' - Nicolas Otamendi kicks Rakitic while he's down and somehow only gets a yellow, and there's a lot of shoving between the two teams. Once things get settled down, Rakitic hits the crossbar with his free kick. So close to a huge exclamation point on this match. Also, Jorge Sampaoli is crying.
83' - Croatia is going to shut things down by clogging the middle. Winger Ivan Perisic is off for central midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
What a hit son. Spectacular goal from the guy who was probably walking away with the man of the match award anyway.
GOAL Croatia! Luka Modric puts his team 2-0 up over Argentina! And that might be ballgame. Wow wow wow. Spectacular hit from Modric and now the Argentina fans will be in Full Whistling Mode.
76' - Play went on for a very long time with Ivan Rakitic down in the center circle, and ref finally stops play. While we're waiting for him to get treatment, here's how Willy Caballero's howler on Ante Rebic's goal sums up all of Argentina's problems.
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The previously supportive Argentina fans have started facepalming and whistling.
73' - Croatia keeps threatening to score on the break, then not finishing the job. Mandzukic just blew by Mascherano, had his cross deflected, and Kramaric couldn't score.
Argentina looks completely hopeless at passing the ball through the center. But they're out of subs, with Giovani Lo Celso and Ever Banega still sitting on the bench. Oops.
68' - Sampaoli has finally relented and given into the pleas of the internet armchair coaches. Paulo Dybala has entered the game for Enzo Perez.
66' - Big chance for Croatia! Mandzukic gets his feet tangled and puts a shot into the side netting.
65' - Vida makes a big tackle to stop a counter attack. Finally this is getting spicy. Took Argentina long enough to get serious.
63' - Finally Argentina comes alive. Meza has a shot saved and Messi can't get anything on the rebound.
I'm really excited for Maradona calling Messi a choker post-game. It'll be completely genuine and not self-serving at all.
59' - You might expect Argentina fans to be whistling their team right now, but they're singing, trying to will the Albiceleste back into the match. But their team keeps turning the ball over.
57' - We've got some substitutions. Argentina have made two, with Gonzalo Higuain and Christian Pavon on for Sergio Aguero and Eduardo Salvio. Croatia has taken off the goal-scorer Ante Rebic, who picked up a knock, and replaced him with Andrej Kramaric.
Awful from Willy, obviously, but absolutely class from Rebic.
GOAL Croatia! Rebic makes it 1-0 over Argentina! Oh no, it's a terrible error by Willy in the Argentina net. He nearly had a turnover that led to a goal in the first half, and this time Croatia actually makes him pay.
51' - The referee has found his cards. Gabriel Mercado gets one for hacking down Rebic.
My man... this is a very good question.
Americans are going to compare bad coaching jobs to Klinsmann forever now huh? Whatever he deserves it
46' - And were back. Here's an outrageous stat: Lionel Messi did not touch the ball during the final 21 minutes of the first half. Unbelievable. No halftime subs.
HALFTIME SCORE: Argentina 0-0 Croatia. Well that wasn't great. Argentina's boss Sampaoli will be contemplating halftime changes. Croatia's manager Dalic probably won't, since a draw is a good result for his team.
Argentina really is dire, and folks are justifiably mad online at Sampaoli's team selection.
This is a bad game but it's kind of a wonderfully bad game? I'm enjoying it too.
39' - Rebic gets a yellow card for a very high studs-up challenge on Salvio. Sampaoli is screaming at the ref for a red card. He has a point.
33' - And now Croatia with a huge miss! Mandzukic has the ball on his head 6 yards out and can't redirect it into the goal. He was behind the defense, should have put it on target.
30' - Oh no, huge miss for Argentina! Marcos Acuña crosses for Enzo Perez, who has an open goal with the goalkeeper out, and he misses wide.
20' - A bad pass out of the back by Willy only goes unpunished because Mandzukic fouls Nicolas Tagliafico out of pure surprise at the ball being in front of him
19' - Shortly after the two-footed tackle, Perez dives and the referee tells him to get up, but also does not book him. Perez should be off, honestly.
16' - Ivan Rakitic eats a two-footed tackle from Enzo Perez, who is very lucky to not get booked. The referee has been shy with the cards so far.
Diego Maradona has apparently figured out that talking smack all the time doesn't do anyone any good, and he's gone into full cheerleader mode
13' - And just one minute later, Salvio crosses for Meza and his shot is just barely blocked away by Dejan Lovren.
12' - First really promising attack for Argentina. Messi just misses a chipped pass from Enzo Perez six yards out. If he gets any touch on it, he probably scores.
10' - Pretty clear that Croatia want to sit back, draw Argentina forward, then get their star midfielders to play long passes into space. It'll probably work if Messi doesn't destroy the gameplan with something brilliant. Argentina's defense isn't great and Rakitic looks on his game with his long passing.
7' - Nicolas Otamendi is rolling around after a tackle by Mario Mandzukic. It was... a pretty normal tackle. Trying to set the stage for a later booking on a notoriously aggressive forward?
How do y'all feel about weird squad numbers? I also hate the tricky left winger wearing No. 4. It's wrong. Proper 1-11 squad numbers for everyone, please.
4' - First chance for Croatia! Willy Caballero has to dive to stop a shot by Ivan Perisic.
Argentina's fans and press were mad about their team's performance against Iceland, and it appears the players are a bit... stressed out.
1' - Kickoff! Some interesting tactical stuff to keep an eye on here. Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli had the team playing a back four system for most of his tenure, but he's reverted to the 3-4-3 he famously used to great success at Universidad de Chile, the Chilean national team, and Sevilla. Croatia, meanwhile, has dropped Andrej Kramaric to move Luka Modric farther up the field. But somewhat surprisingly, Marcelo Brozovic gets the nod over Real Madrid's Mateo Kovacic.
Croatia fans might be smaller in number, but they've been doing lung exercises, because you could hear them singing too. The atmosphere for this game is going to be spectacular.
There are a lot of Argentina fans in attendance. The stadium is covered in Albiceleste shirts and their anthem was LOUD.
Teams are in the tunnel about to come out. The pre-game shots of this stadium are beautiful, and I'm jealous of everyone who got to go.
If you're still trying to figure out how to catch the match, here's live stream links and TV info for Argentina vs. Croatia.
A lot has been made of Messi struggling with penalties lately. He's only made five of his last 10 for club and country. Expect Lionel Messi to keep taking penalties of Argentina gets them, even though they have a better penalty taker.
Miss anything from Day 8 of the 2018 World Cup? Get caught up here.
Argentina and Croatia face off in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday night, and both teams have made big lineup changes. Argentina has completely re-worked its team into a new formation, though you'll see Lionel Messi drifting around in space just the same. Croatia has dropped Andrej Kramaric for more defensive midfielder Marcelo Brozovic and pushed Luka Modric higher up the field.
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