The State Of The Ecuador Pitch Makes For Bad Viewing For Argentina

The possibility of Lionel Messi not being at the World Cup in Russia next summer seems ridiculous but that's exactly what could face one of the world's best players and the pitch tonight will do him no favours.

In most of our lifetimes there's a few things that are inevitable about a World Cup; Italy will be underrated, Germany will go far no matter what, England will underachieve in the eyes of most and people will complain that Lionel Messi hasn't single handedly won the World Cup.

Often the last stick that anyone has left to beat the Argentine superstar with is that he and his countrymen are yet to capture the biggest prize in football and that the Barcelona man hasn't copied Diego Maradona by doing it all on his own.

_{Argentina fans look on after their team's 0-0 draw with Peru made things difficult ahead of their final qualifying game. Image: PA}

If Messi was hoping to prove the doubters wrong in Russia next summer then he'll be needing a near miracle to do it. Argentina's qualifying campaign has been woeful and with one match to go they need a big win.

Tonight, or half midnight tomorrow morning for those of us UK based, Argentina travel to Ecuador for their final match and they need a win to qualify.

Manager Jorge Sampaoli and his player won't be happy to see the state of the pitch at the Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa stadium:

If the pressure on the team, the position they find themselves in and the state of the pitch wasn't bad enough their record in Ecuador makes things even more difficult.

Ecuador won 2-0 the last time the sides met earlier in qualification, in Argentina, and the last time tonight's visitors won in Ecuador was in 2001!

The top four qualify automatically from South America with fifth place going into a play-off with a team from Oceania. Argentina currently sit in sixth place, level on points with fifth place Peru and one point behind third and fourth place Chile and Colombia.

Peru and Colombia play each other whilst Chile play already qualified Brazil. Paraguay, who can also qualify with a win, a draw between Colombia and Peru and Argentina not winning, play bottom place Venezuela.

Things are not looking good, can Messi do it on his own?

Topics: Lionel Messi, Argentina, World Cup

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

@Sidler28