Argentina defender Javier Mascherano has again defended the national team's unity after video from Monday's training showed him conversing with coach Jorge Sampaoli on the bench, fuelling rumours that the players would pick the lineup for the Albiceleste's crucial game against Nigeria on Tuesday.
Mascherano, however, hit out at reporters in an Instagram post which read: "You say that when we talk it is to impose and, if not, it is because we are bickering and we don't care about anything.
"I would just like to say that when the mission and the shirt that we represent is much bigger than any type of interpretation you may be making, then we will be all united together for the same goal. I hope that tomorrow it will not just be the 23 who are here, or the more than 50 people who make up the delegation.
"I pray that we have the support of the 44 million Argentines, all of them kicking toward the same goalpost."
Sampaoli, meanwhile, told reporters at a news conference in St. Petersburg on Monday that he would not breach the confidentiality of his squad. "What I talk about with my players is private, and I will never make it public," he said.
Addressing rumours that the players were having a say in the lineup, he added: "I can't clear up things that don't exist. In the virtual world, one is made to feel like a criminal."
Like Mascherano, Sampaoli reminded Argentina fans to support their team.
"Tomorrow we must play a match with our hearts and our heads. Tomorrow Argentina is going to start the World Cup with relation to their necessity to win. We have to win five matches to get to the final, tomorrow is the first."
Sampaoli would not confirm whether he planned to sub goalkeeper Willy Caballero for Franco Armani, who has not played a single minute for Argentina but was in attendance at the news conference.
"We have been practicing some particular things, but until I have everything set in my head, I don't want to reveal a starting XI because I have not communicated that yet to my players and we have practiced different combinations. I prefer not to say anything today."
A victory in St. Petersburg is necessary for Argentina to have a chance to go through to the knockout rounds after they drew 1-1 with Iceland in their opener and then lost 3-0 to Croatia on Thursday.
Reports this week in Argentina and Spain not only suggested that Sampaoli had lost the team, but also said the players would decide who started, and the formation used, against Nigeria.
But Mascherano said earlier that Argentina's players would work with Sampaoli to find a solution to the problems that have plagued the 2014 runners-up.
"The best coaches in the world also ask the players for their opinion, because the player is the one who ends up making the decisions," Mascherano told reporters after the Croatia loss.
"The coach gives you the tools, but you decide which is the best option [on the pitch], and for that to occur you have to be comfortable."