From the start, Sampaoli’s rejiggered defense looked liable to make an error — and exactly that happened, in the 53rd minute when goalkeeper Wilfredo Caballero gifted Croatia’s Ante Rebic the game’s opening goal. At the other end, Messi, usually such a potent attacking force, looked like a man strolling in a park while a soccer match took place around him. In the first hour, Messi played just 15 passes. By the end of the match, Caballero had made more passes than Messi: 36 to 31.

“After they scored on us, we were emotionally broken,” a chastened Sampaoli said after the match.

Croatia took the lead in bizarre fashion. Caballero, who was also involved in a mix-up that allowed Iceland to score its lone goal in the first game, fluffed a chipped pass, scooping it up straight to Rebic, who thundered a volley into the net from close range to give Croatia a 1-0 lead.

While the goal came off a mistake, Croatia had looked the more threatening side even before Caballero’s aberration. Perhaps more impressive, its defense had shackled Messi almost completely.

Shorn of the ball, locked out of the pockets of space he uses to devastating effect with Barcelona, Messi dropped deeper and deeper in search of possession, until he appeared to give up all hope of influencing the game. He wandered around scratching his head, or pulling on his beard, as blue-and-white-clad teammates floundered around him.

“We quite simply couldn’t pass to him,” said Sampaoli. The Croatian captain, Luka Modric, reveled in that fact, noting his team’s ability to “cut off the supply line” to Messi.