Argentina gripped by fear as Lionel Messi and the golden generation fall short

It can’t happen, can it? The idea of a World Cup without Argentina is so preposterous as to be unthinkable. The prospect of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria not being in Russia next summer is absurd. Isn’t it? And yet, unless they manage to produce a victory against Venezuela in the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires on Tuesday night, there is every chance the ridiculous might just materialise.

Were they to remain as they are, marooned from automatic qualification in fifth place in the Conmebol table, they would go through the ignominy of a play-off against New Zealand, the Oceania winners. And, given the international form of Burnley’s Chris Wood – who scored a hat-trick in his last outing for the Kiwis – nothing can be guaranteed.

If it seems utterly ridiculous that a team able to call on the services of such talent are struggling to secure one of the four...