Argentina were eliminated from the 2018 World Cup on Saturday after a catastrophic tournament. So who and what was to blame?

Argentina’s dramatic victory over Nigeria in midweek proved only to be a stay of execution as Jorge Sampaoli’s disjointed side were undone by France in the last-16.

Sampaoli and his players had managed to rally themselves to get out of the groups but their problems were too deep-rooted to usurp one of Europe’s most talented sides.

Sampaoli certainly contributed to Argentina’s poor campaign but many of the issues facing the side had been evident long before he took charge. We look at the 10 reasons for Argentina's disastrous World Cup…

Getty1. Argentine Football Association mismanagement and corruption

One of the reasons Sampaoli was still in the dug-out for what proved to be Argentina’s final two World Cup matches was because the AFA could not afford to sack him. It is in dire financial straits and sacking Sampaoli would have cost $16m on its own. Yet while Sampaoli should take his share of the blame for Argentina’s poor campaign, he is far from the only coach to have been loaded with extra pressure.

After years of chopping and changing in the dug-out, it looked as if Tata Martino, who replaced Alejandro Sabella after the 2014 World Cup, was the man to stabilise Argentina. He took them to two Copa America finals – both lost on penalties – but resigned over the AFA’s failure to arrange a team for the Rio Olympics. The federation has struggled to clean up its act since the death of infamous long-standing president Julio Grondona (pictured) and when called into making footballing decisions it has often failed; Edgardo Bauza replaced Martino but was sacked after eight months, leaving Sampaoli with an unenviable inheritance.

Advertisement2. Players’ mistrust of AFA

The AFA’s troubles were so obvious that the players themselves have long since been affected. Argentina’s participation at the 2016 Copa America was in doubt right up until the first game of the tournament due to another ongoing corruption row, and during the tournament Lionel Messi, of all people, hit out at his superiors with Instagram posts – “what a disaster they are” – and cryptic press conference messages. He vowed to spill the beans after the tournament but retired instead, citing those who had been wanting the decision. In Russia, as WhatsApp recordings from Diego Simeone and Argentine journalists were leaked, the players suspected the AFA. It has not been a happy camp for some time.

Getty3. Complicated priorities back home

Goal has previously detailed some of the theories regarding why the pressure on the national team to succeed is so high. Cesar Luis Menotti (pictured), the World Cup-winning coach of 1978, and his long-time assistant Fernando Signorini believe Argentine football moved too quickly towards big business during the 1990s, focusing too much on winning and financial gain and therefore warping the expectations of the nation’s football-mad fans.

Signorini says many Argentines believe “a game of football will decide the future of the nation”, and he also sights intense, round-the-clock media coverage that whips up fans even further. It has left the Argentina players with no allies; fans and media expect too much and the federation has been too incompetent to accommodate them.

Getty4. Failures in youth development

Menotti believes youth coaches in Argentina are too focused on winning rather than developing talent, leaving Argentina’s top clubs stacked players who are big, strong and committed but without much skill. One of the reasons Martino resigned was because he believed there were “serious problems” putting together a side for the Olympics.

He wanted to bring through a new generation of talent, recognising that his group of players would mostly be past their peak at the 2018 World Cup, but only nine players of the 35 he had wanted to call up were released for the first day of training. Due to the priorities of youth coaches and more mismanagement from the AFA, Argentina is not churning out as many talented young players these days.Pavon