At the ongoing Copa America taking place in Brazil, 'am supporting the Argentine team even though I know they aren't close to being favorites in the tournament. They have been struggling to live up to expectations for a long time now and it doesn't seem like they are close to overcoming their national misfortune any time soon.

Source

The crisis that have continued to eat deep into the fabrics of the Argentine team seems resistant to the magic wand of Lionel Messi. We've seen him come out of the blues to save Barcelona many times from the claws of their rivals, both in Europe and in Spanish football. However, it seems the it's a total ball game when he is on national duty. He does his best but the results doesn't reflect his efforts, no matter how spectacular he plays.

While many have said he is not giving his best to the national team as he does for Argentina, others are of the view that the Argentine coaches have not been able to build the Argentine team around the Best player in the World. Some say the whole team are allowing him to carry the burden of the team alone, and other football enthusiasts are of the opinion that if Messi retires from the National team, the Argentine team will get better.

However, after the World cup, the Barcelona captain took a long break from National duty, and it was obvious that the team performed even worse without him. He has always been the difference in the little glory they've managed to get in recent time and his absence undoubtedly spells doom for the squad. At the World cup, he was spectacular all through and went ahead to get an individual performance award despite being defeated by Germany in the finals. This is a clear evidence that he as individual is outperforming the entire team and they seem not to be progressing with him. Would you still blame him?

However, There Is Something Else That Deserves Attention

Yeah, apart from the above reasons why the Argentine team doesn't seem to be making headway, there is another salient issue that have been in the team for years now, and that's the seemingly inability of Argentine Coaches to utilize Paulo Dybala and Lionel Messi in the same squad. I have been wondering why no coach have been able to solve this Knotty conundrum in the Argentine team. The Juventus young star is no doubt one of the finest foots in the world, and will be a great asset to any team.

With Angel Di Maria operating from the Left flank and Sergio Aguero at the center forward, the natural position of the young Juve forward is the right flank. However, that's also the position of the Barcelona talisman and you just can't dream of playing Messi out of position except he prefers it. With Messi's presence in the team, Dybala is rarely given time to prove his mettle(this is the opinion of some football analysts). Messi has always overshadowed the Juve star and always makes Dybala seem more like a surplus player.

They have been various attempts by Coaches to manage these two guys in the Argentine team but all to no avail. In 2016, Edgardo Bauza tried to when Dybala had his debut game against Uruguay, but Messi ended up scoring the only goal for the team to win 1-0. Sampaoli came around in 2017 to help coexist, but it didn't just work out. Even Dybala had to acknowledge this when he said "It's going to seem strange, what I'm about to say. It's a bit difficult to play with Messi for Argentina because we both play in the same position. I'm the one who has to adapt to make him feel comfortable."

Well, it's obvious from what we saw at the 2018 World Cup at Russia where Dybala barely played 20 minutes in a game that Croatia were already 3-0 up. Even though he had his moments with the team when Messi went on break, Scaloni is yet to resolve how to use both players in the squad. And it makes me ask time without number, do you think Argentina will do better as a team if Lionel Messi gave way for Paulo Dybala?