Argentina players stage coup against Jorge Sampaoli before crucial Nigeria clash

Argentina’s players have staged a coup against Jorge Sampaoli by demanding that he is not in charge of their crucial World Cup group game against Nigeria next Tuesday.

Argentina have registered just one point in Group D following a draw with Iceland in their opening game and the 3-0 defeat to Croatia on Thursday means that they need a victory against Nigeria to stand any chance of reaching the last-16.

Sampaoli has been heavily criticised for his approach to Argentina’s World Cup and has failed to find a system that gets the best out of their talisman Lionel Messi.

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Sergio Aguero’s curt response to Sampaoli’s assessment of the loss to Croatia also suggests that Argentina’s players are also at odds with their manager.

According to a report from TyC Sports on Saturday, the relationship between Argentina’s players and the technical staff is ‘broken’ and the squad have demanded that Sampaoli is removed as head coach for their final group game.

The report claims that after a group meeting, Sampaoli was told by the president of the Argentina Football Association Claudio Tapia that ‘he no longer has power over the group’.

It’s claimed that Argentina’s players are no longer following Sampaoli’s orders and want him to play no part in the match against Nigeria.