Gabriel MERCADO: “I Was scared of missing the World Cup”

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Gabriel MERCADO was the talking point of many in Argentina in regards to an injury which he sustained over the weekend.

The Sevilla defender was substituted off for his club last weekend due to an injury and thankfully for the player and his country, it wasn’t anything serious. Upon arriving to Argentina last Friday, Gabriel MERCADO spoke to the media about his recovery and how he felt about the possibility of not going to the World Cup

“I’M FEELING A LITTLE BIT BETTER NOW, ITS BEEN A FEW DAYS BUT THERE IS STILL SOME DISCOMFORT THOUGH IT’S JUST MINIMAL. FROM WHAT THE DOCTOR HAS REPORTED, I’M AVAILABLE.”

MERCADO was substituted in Sevilla’s match against Betis after suffering discomfort on his back. He admitted that he was scared about missing the World Cup.

“I WAS SCARED BECAUSE IT WAS A SIMILAR EPISODE THAT HAPPENED TO ME LAST TIME AND IT COST ME THE WORLD CUP. FIRST THING THAT CAME TO MY MIND IS THAT I COULD MISS THE WORLD CUP BUT THANK GOD IT WASN’T THE CASE THIS TIME.”

Despite this setback, MERCADO is confident that he is good to go to Russia.

“I’M VERY MUCH LOOKING FORWARD TO BEING PART OF THE 23 PLAYERS IN JUNE. YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR JORGE (SAMPAOLI) TO RELEASE THE LIST EVEN THOUGH HE HAS ALREADY SPOKE TO US ON WHAT IS OUR ROLE AT THE WORLD CUP.”

However, MERCADO still remains cautious. He was originally named by Alejandro SABELLA for the World Cup in Brazil but did not make the cut for the final squad.

“YOU HAVE TO BE RESPECTFUL WITH YOUR TEAMMATES AND WAIT BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE ON THE LIST ONE DAY AND NOT THE NEXT. I UNDERSTAND THAT SITUATION VERY WELL EVEN THOUGH WE ALL HAVE AMBITIONS AND WANT TO WIN THE WORLD CUP.”

Finally when asked about Argentina’s farewell match that will take place at La Bombonera.

“WE ARE HERE TO SAY GOODBYE TO THE FANS AT THE VENUE CHOSEN BY THE AFA.”

28 Comments

  1. This Would be The Perfect squad sometimes you Need Young and fresh blood because they Play Withhout fear

    Goal:
    Romero
    Caballero
    Rulli/armani
    No guzman because he Played really poorly in Mexican Playoffs

    Otamendi
    Garay
    Fazio
    Pezella
    Insaldi
    Bustos
    tagliafico

    Messi
    Dyballa
    Di Maria
    Acuna (can also be play in Defence)
    Lanzini
    Icardi / Aguero
    Pavon
    Meza
    J correa / A correa
    Perotti / Parades
    Lo celso
    Battaglia
    Ascacibar (Iam from Germany an he Played very good Even the germans praised him he can be like kante from France)

    Tell me what you think about this Squad thank you

  2. Germany against Brazl game was fixed??
    98 wc was fixed??

    Ok yeah, i see, the same old story!
    In 78 wc Brazil failed to score more goals than Argentina against Peru so it was fixed.
    In 90 wc Brazil was kicked out by Argentina in quarterfinals, so it was fixed. Brazilians were claiming that Diego gave Branco water with weird substances, the HILLARIOUS well known incident as “holy water”.
    In 98 wc France, which had a great team back then, destroyed Brazil in the final, so guess what: It was fixed!
    Everytime Brazil was getting knocked out, something else other than them was wrong, the weather, the turf, the ball, it was fixed!
    The only time they didn’t claim anything was when they got humiliated by the Germans, the biggest humiliation in wc knock-out stages in history, on their own soil, simply because that time they couldn’t even find the courage for other pathetic excuses!
    The definition ” fixed” should never ever been used for Brazil’s favour, for the sake of football itself!

    Do you want to talk about “fixed” tournaments and games?? I will name just a few!
    – 94 wc was fixed, as the Brazilian fifa president back then, Havelange and the rest, gave their best to set up the whole thing with Maradona. Surprisingly, name to me just once when Brazil and Germany subjected to anti-doping tests! Oh, and don’t forget, even in the previous world cup, it was in Brazil so i guess it was just a coincidence (sarcasm), Argentina had a surprising doping control!

    – 02 wc was fixed, it was all the way favoured for the likes of Brazil and south Korea, just watch the free kick wich was awarded as a penalty for Brazil against Turkey and Rivaldo’s pathetic antics which were used as an excuse of sending a Turkish player off! And just for the record, Turkey was giving Brazil a real hard time and they were also one goal to zero up!
    Watch the wrongly dissallowed goal of Belgium against Brazil, as it was wrongly and unfairly awarded as offside!

    Even in copa americas, go back and see the beyond than obvious handball by Tulio against us in copa 95, which helped the Brazilians equilize and then beat us unfortunately in penalty shoot-out. We had beaten them in the previous copa 4-2.

    So please, for the sake of football itself, don’t use the definition “fixed” for the favour of Brazil or Germany, because they are the “dirtiest” teams i have ever witnessed!

    • Might i add too.. In 2002 all the bad calls that went against Italy. Good goals that were disallowed. Remember the Italy-South Korea game ? Totti was fouled in the box, and instead of Totti getting the penalty, he was given a red card for diving. It was as though FIFA did their best to get Italy out of the way so Brazil could win the World Cup ..

  3. Platini has admitted today that world cup was rigged in 98. Not too mention another french national the coach or someone not so long ago wrote in a book that French players were on drugs in 98 world cup.

    SO MUCH CORRUPTION! Look at UEFA right now. Every year Madrid get ridiculous decisions & Ronaldo looks like juiced up more than most basketball players.

  4. If Sampaoli get the team to click Argentina will win the world cup. It’s all about the attacking third of the team clicking and the overall team hitting peak form. Look, if Argentina attack live up to their full potential during the world cup I see no reason to worry, and with this the defense will take care of itself. No matter what is being said here day in and day out, the question will come down to, can Sampaoli led Argentina captain by Lionel Messi click at the world cup? I have no doubt if the team recognizes it’s full potential they can do amazing things. Everything being said in the media right now about Argentina is pure noise and all those ESPN pundits except Gab Marcotti are bandwagonist, they’ve already made up their minds about Argentina, but watch them change tune during the world cup. I respect Gab Marcotti because he has always stay true to his beliefs that Argentina is going to come good under Sampaoli, and it’s not like Argentina winning the world cup benefits Gab Marcotti in anyway because he is an Italian football pundit showing more belief in the Argentina national team than most Argentina fans and media outlets. Gab Marcotti remind me of myself and my brother, we always think and feel the same way as him (Gab Marcotti) when discussing Argentina 2018 world cup chances.

    • even during the qualifiers when Argentina wasnt winning, when you look at the stats, they were dominating in possession, shots on goal and other stats. Only scoring was a problem. Argentina will click. I believe that Higuain will come good too and he will surprise us

  5. Lack of passion, Wining Mentality, Patriotism, Honour…. this sounds like Arsenal Fan TV….

    WC 2010… Why Spain was champion as everyone predicted? The team was passionate to the shirt? The spirit of honour for the badge? No! The Answer is quality of the team.The quality of FC Barcelona.

    WC 2014…? From the day one Germany was favourite. They never played like what they were playing. Quality, FC Bayern provided the glory, not the National Anthem.

    • I have said this many times: if iniesta and xavi would have been Argentine,one playing for River and the other for Boca. I whole heartly believe they would had never played together. I imagine people on mundo would say 2 playmakers – no way! But let’s try it – no no we know it doesnt work. Riquelme and Aimar had chemistry like no other, all the minutes played together are beauty embodied but in our coaches eyes it was always one or the other. Being content and uncreative is something that has been costing us darely. If a player plays good we are happy, no hunger to find a player who probably plays better. Nuances decide games at the highest stage of competition so the logical thing to do is to improve a nuance 1% improvement or not can make the difference between winning and losing.

      • Hazard – De Bruyne and Messi – Dybala are completely different pairs. Hazard is a goal scoring winger who can play as 9 like Cristiano. De Bruyne is a rare breed of Mid fielder who will run more than anyone in his team, but creating lot of chances, with his amazing passes and crosses. So it’s easier to play together for them. But Both Dybala and Messi’s best position are 10 or false 9. So it’s difficult to play together.

        • I agree that the scenario is very different. I was just saying Martinez managed to integrate them & reinvent de bruyne role . While dybala & Messi play in similar role & have similar strengths, maybe some more experimentaion in last 2 years to make dybala play from left could have been probed. We also need a very mobile midfield if dybala & Messi play in same 11 as the defensive contribution of these 2 + aguero will be zero.

    • Hazard & De Bruyne’s case isn’t similar to Messi & Dybala’s. De Bruyne is flexible enough to play as a CM or, out wide. His defensive work is much better than that of Messi and Dybala. It would be a disaster if they tried to play Hazard as a CM.

  6. @KidultHood

    I just want to correlate two of your statements. One of yesterday and one you posted few weeks ago. For me the second statement is very true and is your own response to your question from 1st statement. That’s why some people here really believe that a bit more fresh blood, passion in our team may be more worth than worn out in NT players like Aguero, Higuain or Banega. The oldies will never more fight for us as they were doing that at their 22 or 25.:

    “Anyone here who think wild and green inexperience players like Meza and Martinez can improve Argentina World Cup chances this summer more than Aguero is deluding themselves”.

    and the second:

    “If say a South American team like Peru or Colombia played Spain on that same exact day neither of them would lose by six goals. Other than being talented and playing for some of Europe biggest clubs, the players who suit up for Argentina need to show fight, pride and patriotism every time they set foot on the football field especially at the world cup. Nobody on the opposing teams care if you play for Juventus or Barcelona or Real Madrid or Manchester United. Just look at the Argentina national team players during the performance of their national anthem, they seem uninterested with no passion whatsoever, now compare this to every other single country (even the lowly national teams) while they stand for their national anthem for an official game, there is always a sense of pride, patriotism and honor in representing their country”.

    • I don’t know how you tell what passion is. I mean some people wear it on their sleeve, I think of Dybala for example. He cried when he got sent off.

      For me, I can appreciate players whom are introspective and wear the passion inside. What the fan sees and what they interpret is a matter of opinion.

    • Ever since I have been following Argentina, players do not sing the anthem passionately. That has nothing to do with passion. It was the same thing before the great QF

    • Ever since I have been following Argentina, players do not sing the anthem passionately. That has nothing to do with passion. In 1986, it was the same thing before the great QF vs England and Final vs Germany. Diego’s team rarely sang the anthem before big games but was their patriotism questionable?

        • That Brazil team was over-passionated behind the pitch but didn’t prepared neither mentally nor tactically by coach. Just like Argentina under Sampaoli – as far.

        • Brazil vs Germany game was fixed. Just wait until several world cup cycles from now and the truth will come out, just as we’re learning today that the 1998 world cup was fixed.

          • “Brazil vs Germany game was fixed. Just wait until several world cup cycles from now and the truth will come out, just as we’re learning today that the 1998 world cup was fixed”

            You believe this and you deny that there is the “friends club”?

            Hahahahahaha

          • If I remember correctly Kid studied political science. That makes you always more suspicious about official facts 😛

        • Haha. Correct . Some players express too much.. some don’t express much. I don’t think that has anything to do with patriotism or passion. It’s just a personality thing imo. Anyone wearing NT jersey at this level is a winner . Period.

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