Ahead of Argentina's make-or-break game against Croatia, team coach Jorge Sampaoli again defended star player Lionel Messi and said the World Cup match was effectively a must-win on Wednesday.

The South Americans have been criticized both for their play style and the results. In their debut performance during the World Cup, they took the lead through Sergio Aguero but conceded a goal to Alfred Finnbogason before Messi missed a second-half penalty. Sampaoli admitted Argentina's "window of opportunity" was narrowing after the draw. But he said "we need to move on to the next phase, that's what we came here for. We don't want to go to the last match not having resolved that."

Sampaoli said the disappointing start against Iceland was not the fault of Messi, despite the penalty miss. "We were quite upset about not having won the match but I think Leo should not shoulder all the responsibility." 

He added: "When we succeed with Argentina, everyone takes credit for it, but when Argentina loses, it's always Leo's fault. I think that's quite unfair." For the coming match against Croatia, it is expected that Sampaoli could make some changes to his team, but he said he had not yet spoken to his players.