The old and harsh experiences of the Argentine team (Kicker)

                                                From Moscow

"I do not know about you, but I'm tired of eating shit. Let's see if today we finally win a title ". This was the phrase used by Javier Mascherano as a speech to his teammates of the Argentine squad minutes before going out to face the local, Chile, for the Copa América 2015 in Santiago, and in reference to the World Cup lost by so little against Germany in the extension of Brazil 2014.

Mascherano belongs to a strange generation, and is the greatest exponent of these empty years in titles of the Argentine national team, to the point of having already lost five finals (Copa America 2004, 2007, 2015 and 2016, and World Cup 2014). The last albiceleste title was in the America's Cup of Ecuador, in the already distant 1993.

There is a total coincidence among analysts that for the generation led by Mascherano and Lionel Messi (he turns 31 on June 24), there will be many more opportunities and that due to the age fact, with some exceptions, the cycle with the Argentine shirt will end in Russia.

The Argentine national team is, by an age average, the oldest of the 32 participating in this World Cup with an average of 29 years, 6 months and 24 days, followed by Costa Rica (29 years, 6 months and 23 days) and Mexico and Panama, both with 29 years, 4 months and 13 days, although seniority is not synonymous of bad performance.

In fact, Argentina lost the World Cup final in the extension with a team that had eight players over 30 years old, and another three over 27.

The biggest problem is the "deja vu", situations that, even with different coaches (Alfio Basile, Diego Maradona, Sergio Batista, Alejandro Sabella, Gerardo Martino, Edgardo Bauza and now Jorge Sampaoli) there are repeated performances and fallen moods during the first setback.

It does not seem at all casual then that after the failed debut against Iceland (1-1), Sampaoli has made several changes and that most of the players that will leave the team are just eight that continued from the last World Cup: Marcos Rojo, Lucas Biglia and Angel Di María, to give place to the youngest who have not gone through these bitter experiences: Marcos Acuña (26), Nicolás Tagliafico (25) and Cristian Pavón (22). They represent the new, a generation that may have other results in the future.