He is the Messi understudy. So long as Messi isn't injured he wasn't going to play. He is not an out and out striker, AM or winger. He is more A Tweener. And Messi is the best Tweener there is. So it made sense he didn't play.He got about 20 mins iirc, but that's down to the manager... one of many strange decisions by Sampaoli.
Argentina's problem wasn't attack persee, it was being disjointed. And he would not have been able to do much about it.