MOSCOW — For a while, even after he had embarked on his coaching career, José Pékerman refused to give up his taxi. He had driven the little Renault 12, given to him by his brother, for four years, after an injury had forced him to retire as a player but before he started work in the youth system at the Buenos Aires club Estudiantes.

In those early days, Pékerman often arrived for training sessions in the car he had painted yellow and black himself. Coaching was his ambition, and he quickly showed he had a gift for it, but he was reluctant to part with the taxi. It was his guarantee that he could support his family, his safety net. In Argentine soccer, he knew he could never be certain when he might need it.

This has not been a vintage World Cup, so far, for anything or anyone connected to Argentina. The national team, despite the presence of Lionel Messi, has lurched from crisis to crisis. Held to a tie by Iceland, torn apart by Croatia, at risk of a humiliating group-stage exit, it is now confronting reports that its players are in a state of open rebellion against their coach, Jorge Sampaoli.

But there is another element to Argentina’s presence in this tournament. Four other World Cup teams in Russia bear an Argentina stamp because each of them — Colombia, Peru, Egypt and Saudi Arabia — has an Argentine coach. That makes five Argentine coaches in all at this tournament, equaling a record set by Brazil in 2006.