It’s do or die for Argentina tonight.
Jorge Sampaoli’s men currently reside in sixth place in the South American World Cup qualifying group.
The top four nations go through automatically while fifth place play New Zealand in a play-off.
Paraguay are just one point behind Argentina and they face bottom-of-the-group Venezuela at home which means Lionel Messi and co will likely have to win against Ecuador to keep their hopes alive.
The two-time World Cup winners will be under huge pressure.
And their task has been made even tougher by the condition of the pitch in Quito…
Hardly helpful for Messi’s scintillating dribbling.
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However, Ecuador coach Jorge Celico is banned from pitchside after an altercation in his side’s previous fixture against Chile.
A World Cup without a player of Messi’s profile would be a disaster for FIFA and so many fans are planning on keeping a close eye on the referee’s performance in Quito.
In just a few hours’ time we’ll find out whether Messi is good enough to bail his underperforming team-mates out of jail.
And he’ll have to do it in a swimming pool.
