The pressure was piling on Argentina on Thursday night as after being held by Iceland, they faced group leaders Croatia in a crunch clash.
Jorge Sampaoli’s side struggled in the first game and looked far from impressive with Lionel Messi missing from the penalty spot to compound their frustration.
They looked vulnerable defensively throughout the first half against Croatia, but it was a mistake from Chelsea goalkeeper Willy Caballero which gifted their opponents the opening goal of the game.
As he looked set to make a routine clearance to start an Argentine attack, Caballero’s attempted chipped pass was intercepted by Rebic who then produced a thunderous finish to break the deadlock.
He deserves credit for keeping his composure and producing a quality strike, but Caballero will face heavy criticism for his role in the goal as Argentina fell behind and they could now face a real problem moving forward in their bid to get out of the group with Iceland and Nigeria set to face off on Friday.
Should they successfully turn things around though, Sampaoli and his men will undoubtedly know that they have to show plenty of improvement if they wish to progress in the knockout stages against some of the main protagonists in Russia.
El error de Willy Caballero narrado por los argentinos #ARG????? pic.twitter.com/lDzsngs2A6
— Argeniz Pernalete (@argenizmusic) June 22, 2018