I do think the critique has gone a bit over the top with Argentina this WC so far.
Yes, not beating Iceland is disappointing, but breaking down a fully charged Iceland is not easy, something The Netherlands, Turkey, Czech Republik, Portugal, Austria, England, Ukraine, Croatia and now Argentina can testify to. Messi scoring a penalty would give Argentina an underwhelming victory in their opener, which would put them on par with France, England, Uruguay, and above Germany, Brazil and Spain at that point, all favorites neither of whom played convincingly in their first game.
Croatia was a semi final tip of mine to begin with, so I expected them to beat Argentina on Russian soil. Up until the first goal, gifted by a madmans fluke miss, I thought Argentina was the better team in a tight game, producing the best chances and controlling the terms of the play. They should have been 2-1 or 3-1 up with normal finishing or even just a little luck. When their reserve reserve keeper turned the game, Croatia could play to their strengths. In the end, frustration, desperation and stress got to the players got to the players, and it ended really badly.
I never counted this Argentine team as one of the favorites, looking at the squad, but up there on the level below with the likes of Portugal and Uruguay. With Messi scoring a pen, Meza hitting the open goal and Caballero hitting the ball, the stress and desperation we see now would look different. Argentina would be talked of as a runner up doing fairly well if not impressing. Playing in Russia and not Brazil, that would be hard to cricize much.
Of course, part of the problem seems to be that many Argentinians, including Maradona, seem to expect their team to be the best team in the world, and are constantly disappointed to the point of bitterness when the actual players play to their actual capabilities, more or less, and it is really easy to see how that affects Messi, the players and also the coaches.
