In an unpredictable tournament from start to finish, England and Brazil both eased into the knockout stages, but then fell at the quarter-finals, while Morocco and Croatia made the semi-finals.
Lionel Messi inspired his side to an historic triumph in Qatar, beating France on penalties to claim their first World Cup win since 1986 - yet Argentina are still behind Brazil in FIFA s rankings.
The Argentina skipper admitted that studying his opponent before his country s semi-final showed that Livakovic preferred to wait for penalty takers to make the first move before reacting.
IAN HERBERT IN DOHA: Argentina players Nicolas Otamendi and Leandro Paredes will escape any FIFA sanction for mocking Netherlands players for losing the penalty shoot-out.
The two national sides battled it out in the World Cup quarter-finals where Argentina emerged victorious - after a 2-2 draw in extra-time - following a gruelling penalty shootout.