Lionel Messi speaks on Argentina national team, World Cup

By
Roy Nemer
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47

Lionel Messi spoke about the Argentina national team and the World Cup.

Messi will be taking part in his fifth World Cup with the Argentina national team. He spoke in an interview with Ole about the team. Here is what he had to say:

“This group got stronger since losing the 2019 semi final of the Copa America vs. Brazil. And from there, everything that has been generated has been generated.

“There are a lot of similarities between this current group and the one from 2014. The group and the mental strength, I think is very important.

“Although we have a big dream, we are also realistic and realize that we are in a good moment. At the same time, we have to know that it’s the World Cup and it’s very difficult.”

Regarding the lessons he learned from the previous World Cups:

“The first time I was very young. I had fun and at the same time had the innocence and the anger of wanting to play. On the one hand, that’s fine but on the other hand I missed out on enjoying many things because I was thinking about it.

“And at the 2014 World Cup, where we performed very well, which was an unforgettable experience. I enjoyed it a lot and where it became clear to me more than ever that the main and most important thing is to be a strong and united group. This, in the long run, will lead you to the important goal.”

In regards to World Cups:

“At World Cups, there are always things that happen that you don’t imagine. Every detail is important and any detail at the same time can leave you out of the tournament. We should treat the first game and the last game the same way. This is a group that always does that and no matter what the match is, they play with the same intensity and focus and I think that’s very important.”

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47 Comments

  1. Give credit to scaloni for picking Enzo. During the past few months everyone was crying out for him. Everyone wanted in form players and mc Allister is in form for his club so no hating. Montel was a beast in copa final so I guess scaloni isn’t ungrateful towards him. Joakin Correa has lost it somehow but he has some talent and he scored some vital goals .. like against Bolivia and he won a final for Lazio.

  2. Incase if Papu is not starting i think Palacios should be the one starting rather than Macallister. Palacios has been a part of us for years now under Scaloni. If he is fit. Our Attack has always been world class, added to that out Defence looks gud too now. GKing issue also is sorted out. But without Lo Celso we looks lackluster in creativity from midfield.

    Had gone through some simulations our path is not looking easy like the 2014, we have to be extremly carefull that there are no slip ups in our group, also hope that France dont slip too. If all goes as per the norms Denmark-Round 16, Netherlands-Quarters, Brazil- Semi, France – Final, are in our path to glory.

    But its world cup there will be slip ups and tones of surprises. We just have to win our 7 matches no matter who. But its gonna be tough. Thats what World cup is.

  3. Reading the reactions to our squad in foreign sports media is interesting.
    I have read reactions from England, Germany, Belgium and Netherlands.
    All are in awe of our attackers. World class although one newspaper stated that Messi has not been decisive in the CL the past few years.

    Our midfield selection does not impress the media. There is no world class player like DeBruyne or Modric. Germany has the luxury of the entire Bayern Munich line woth Kimmich, Muller, Goretzka and Musiala (and Sane and Gabry upfront). The loss of LoCelso makes us average according to quite a few articles.

    Our defence is considered very good but their backups (Pezzella, Montiel) do not impress. Many media pointed out that Otamendi is slow. Injuries or suspensions could have a major impact.

    The keepers were not discussed.

    Request: can anyone post comments from French, Portuguese and Brazilian newspapers or sports magazines?

    • I think a lot of European journalists with the exception of Tim Vickery don’t really follow our team deeply. I read a lot of their articles, it is so rubbish. A month ago someone put the likes of Nehuen Perez as the back up or Giovani Simeone.

      The perfect example is Otamendi. Just because he moves to the Portuguese league from City, they think he is done. No he’s not. He is playing his best futbol in his career just like when in City days. Also they don’t know how amazing De Paul can be just because he looks mediocre for Atletico.

  4. There are 26 players for a reason.
    We want to make a deep run and win it.
    I don’t worry about who starts the first game because during the tournament it will change.
    There will injuries, suspensions, dropping of form, other players will rise, adjustments will be made.
    It is a given that the starting 11 in the first game never end up being the starting 11 in the last game.

  5. We will need scoring midfielder like enzo and our defenders also need to score important goals look in every wc winning team there are some important goals from defenders like umtiti goal for france metarazzi ramos for spain. We need goals from midfielders and defenders. We can’t always depend on forwards for scoring.others also have to contribute.

  6. @Anu

    If u looked at the video again, I saw it with my own eyes the right side and the middle of the diagram. I saw the names of:
    Di Maria/Nico Gonzales
    De Paul/Enzo
    Messi/Dybala
    Montiel/Molina/Foyth
    Pezzella/Cuti
    Emi/Armani/Rulli

    These are visible (watch the video again pls)
    They are quite clear to see (u can watch it again), so maybe the left side, tyc speculates but it is pretty obvious who the left sides are if the right and middle looked like that.

    What is not visible is the left side, so I think TYC got it right to put the names that are not visible:
    Licha/Otamendi (obvious)
    Tagliafico/Acuna (obvious)
    Palacios/Papu/MacAllister (if the right side and middle are visible and they are De Paul/Enzo and Paredes/Guido there, then Palacios/Papu/MacAllister are the only ones left)

    Then the strikers Lautaro/Alvarez/J Correa also the last 3 that are not visible.

    • Yes i trust you. Only positive is that scaloni thinking about playing enzo in advanced role using him as dm waste his creative sides 9f play but i don’t know why they revealed their plan. This should have been a secret.

  7. Today and tomorrow will be most important match days in our world cup aspirations. Our players need to protect themselves from getting injuries. Last match is vital. Messi, dimaria, paredes, lisandro, McAllister, otamendi, enzo all needs to play safe and don’t even get close to any defender don’t sprint be safe. Im tensed and will be hoping no injury will happen.

  8. El principle..nowadays The real kid..
    He always come with his funny mind, funny statistics! Lol….scoloni is not a kid who publish his player pecking order..
    See the video again he just randomly said players name😂😂

    • OK since the troll is here. Lemme copy and paste what I wrote on another thread:

      I thought it was u who is one of the trolls here who love mediocrity that much. Just get lost man. One of the worst posters here ever. Definitely one of the disciple of Outlaw.

      I remember u are the only one ever here calling me a troll (and now calling me a kid, how old are u kiddo? 5?) in 13-15 years I am here. I have seen a lot of posters here and u are without doubt one of the worst ones. I am dead serous.

      Papu sucks, Enzo sucks, pretending to be sad when Lo Celso is out. Then declaring MacAllister will make the world cup team of the tournament. Only a troll would say that honestly.

      And sometimes being hypocrites too saying “oh no I like Enzo or Palacios more than him” that’s your real face. just get lost man.

      As for people who wonder about “how do I see that diagram from the black board of Scaloni?” I got it from a TYC article, it was 100% like it was. I just rewrite it. I do not make it up.

      Just go yo TYC site yourself. It is still there.

      A troll like Jewel thinks I make up that diagram. Well a troll always does a troll thing.

      • ww w.tycsports.com/seleccion-argentina/el-curioso-detalle-en-el-video-de-lionel-scaloni-para-presentar-la-lista-de-la-seleccion-argentina-de-cara-al-mundial-de-qatar-2022-id477006.html

        I put a space in between www otherwise they won’t let me put a link here.

      • You are 13/15 years here! So what? Ah so what man? Franco Armani 36, Emi Martínez 30. Who is better? All know.. Age and experience matter!.. Real kiddo 😂😂
        pretending?..lol..all mundu know lo celso is my favourite player.how much i like him..you funny man😂
        And i say again I’m not a blind fan like you who want his favorite player to start and if not then hated replace player.you always openly bad wishes for Macalester . Are you crazy?..seriously?.. I don’t like armani, so i should wish armani paly bad or get injury?lol..come on.. be liberal… As a Argentine fan i support 26 player who pick by scaloni..Yes i have favourite player, so for my favourite player not starting i wish bad for other player who start? And finally Argentina lose the game..crazy.in World cup no time for single bad game.i never that type like you who Openly want bad match for alister.. Lol
        You are troll.. I again say if papu start i will support him but my pecking order is, alester, enzo, palacios,papu
        Now come to the your tyc point.. You should better see it again what Gaston edul say..
        “He started,and looking at the camera in 50 Second he named the 26 from memory”..lol

        Be mentally prepare to support macalester 😂😂😂
        Tyc,ole,tnt, goal all are saying macalester going to replace lo celso place and they assumed Enzo also has chance after macalester… I personally take papu Against weak team like Saudi Arabia, against tried defence, if needed fot penalty kick..lol..Good luck old kiddo..

  9. First of all on the white board, that was showing at the backside of Scaloni, it is written players name from top to bottom, not from left to right.

    Second, you really think, Scaloni is a fool?, to show the world, this is my formation and how he’s going to use the players? He’s clever. Dont underestimate his brilliance. We are seeing this in every press conference and in matches.

    Nobody can conclude anything from the white board. I think, may be, as per his thinking, this is players first preferred position, that’s it but I am sure we can see these players playing in different positions depends upon the opposition/situations. Never think players will be used only in that mentioned positions.

    And, today also, T Y C says two things regarding midfield selections. Gaston Edul’s wordings are as below;
    ”
    1. MacAllister convinced from his role at Brighton and especially in March during the double date WC qualification matches against Ecuador and Venezuela.
    2. LoCelso injury ended the Enzo vs Palacios battle.
    ”
    The above wordings are not by me..but Gaston Edul’s.

    Here, our pundits say, MacAllister was horrible against Ecuador and Venezuela. But coaching staff see it differently. Mainly against Ecuador.

    Here our pundit still says, Palacios was guaranteed..! I believe, he was lucky that LoCelso is injured.
    Actually, Palacios position was taken by Enzo, you need more proof?
    Look at the white board. Palacios was considered as backup of DePaul until recently, but now Enzo preferred there. Now, Palacios name is used in LCM position, it shows that he has been included to this team in the absence of LoCelso.

  11. Messi this,Messi that, imagine being in this guys shoes, hes bound to attract people with the popularity he has around the globe, for a shy guy like him its actually terrifying.hope he enjoys this wc.

    Lo Ceslo – hope we somehow cover up for his abcense. Papu will be vital for us now.

    Emiliano-Molina-Romero-Otamendi-Tagliafico-Paredes-Depaul-Papu-Messi-Di Maria-Lautaro

    This 11 looks great and well oiled hope the backup players also step up.Also hope all gets injury free and preserve themselves for the knockouts.

    • Molina is the weakest link plus i would prefer guido over parades. Paredes injured and out of form. Put foyth in place of Molina enzo in place of papu and guido in place of paredes and we r good to go

  12. we may not have the best argentina team but definitely the most balanced one since 2006. I believe that having 3 midfielders supporting Leo and 2 strikers who anchor and makes the run will be the best formula. I see many fans here want Lisandro in the 11 but I don’t think it’s the best thing to do now unless Ota or Cuti is injured or suspended. We should keep the same 11 and made adjustments to replace Lo Celso. The most easiest thing to do is to replace him by De Paul and to do Enzo for De Paul’s role. With De Paul and Enzo next to him, Paredes will play his best football if he recovers.

    the other adjustment to make is the attack, who will play with messi and lautaro. Di Maria can barely finish his matches, Dybala just recovers and not sure on the overlap with messi, Nico didn’t have much playing time with his club. So Joaquin Correa, Julian Alvarez are the only options. I still prefer Joaquin to Julian in that left striker support role. moreover he knows well lautaro now and the pressing from those 2 guys is amazing, both good with or without the ball.

    Papu will be the guy who can come in and make difference with his knowledge and experience. Guess Di Maria and Dybala will play that role too. no many teams have those 3 players of that level as sub.

  13. It’s World Cup. Every single player selected will give their best to the country. I do trust Scaloni decision. Yes, there is always be a pro and contras to the selection. The same thing happened to Spain, Ramos, and Thiago excluded; England on Macquire instead of Fikayo Tomori. the list will be long. This a dilemma for every coach when announcing the team. Let it be then during choosing the starting XI. You cannot satisfy all the parties. It is for the good of the team to win every game.

    One thing J Correa is needed more than A.Correa. He can cover Nico and operate from LW when the team needs it. A. Correa’s spot is taken by Dybala, the objective is to work according to the game plan and select the best in-form player.

  14. On another note, I know some people are disappointed about Angel Correa but I’m grateful that this year I’m not grimacing as I read someone on the list. No Zanetti type exclusions and if our Meza this year is a premier league player, then so be it, I’ll take it over the actual Meza. The list was very predictable and in Choripan’s survey I put Angel in there, but I had a feeling that Scaloni was going to go with Joaquin as he’s a favorite. Absolutely nothing in the list surprises me, so I feel confident in Scaloni’s careful and wise choices. I just hope that Joaquin doesn’t make any high profile misses and hopefully with 6 forwards ahead of him the won’t have much on his shoulders, remember this is a 26 man squad, so a Joaquin most years would have been more burdensome

    • Olive, Joaquin is an excellent second striker. If you see him, he is comfortable giving passes to Dzeko in Inter. That being said, I want him to score goals because unpredictable nature of your players is what separates a winning versus the ordinary.
      Messi will be tightly marked and so is Lautaro and DiMaria.

    • i know my opinion lacks rational [im only human after all :)]but deep down i kinda wanted to see Garnacho. You’re totally right though, there are no obvious omissions, the best possible players are going.

  15. I know this is late but I’m really devastated about Lo Celso. A huge piece to our side and sad to see that he basically misses two World Cups in a row (no minutes in 2018). Really worrying but we’ll see how Scaloni adapts. Be it Papu, Palacios, or Enzo (who doesn’t look like the same type of player to me as Lo Celso as I’ve said in the past but if Scaloni can find some tactical balance with him it would be great). Lo Celso is one of my favorite players but I hope that Messi’s words can apply here “coincidences don’t exist” and somehow it was for a reason. But on its face its a big blow. If you rewind all of the Scaloni era goals a good proportion are not only assisted but pre assisted or started in some way by Lo Celso. This problem has made me feel almost every negative emotion I can feel (regret, sadness, loss, grief, dread, frustration). I hate “what ifs”, and I hope that in the future the Lo Celso loss doesn’t make us think about any “what ifs”.

    • You just took word from my heart. I feel immense grief & sadness over losing Gio. However I believe in Scaloni & Co ,finally we have good tactian. I won’t be surprise if Scaloni tries double pivot with Enzo-Paredes pushing De Paul more advance in knock out stage. Can’t wait to see them play even though I feel our well oiled machine just lost a part.

    • I am also still shocked with Lo Celso exclusion. Scaloni should have done better. As someone says Araujo and Mane have worse injury but their teams still take them. I know we are Argentina and we have much more options but Lo Celso playing as left midfielder is perfect for us. He can provide a threat from the left side too so our attack from the right (our best weapon) won’t be heavily marked.

      Only Papu and Nico Gonzales logically would be able to do what Lo Celso can.

    • Olive i do understand your feelings as i’m feeling the kindof same way too, but as we all are inviduals and therefore i won’t comment more about your feelings as for kind of respect towards you and your feelings…every word u wrote honestly about Lo Celso and specially what has been and happened to Arg while he be on playing is so true and that offcourse obviously make’s things even more painfully, but also i do care about him as Person too like u also and therefore i wish all the best and quickest recovery as possible, there is not much i can say to make u or me or anyone else who feel’sthe same about Lo Celso to feel better at this current/present time even i wished that i would have something more proper to say than all i know that this Doctor/ a special Surgerist in Finland has done many operation/surgery’s in his life time and by sport’s inviduals he very respected amongst the of many or even them all as he has operated done surgery’s for so many we all know from different sports and also many from football too, but offcourse sometime’s there has been several surgery’s done for some inviduals and offcourse nothing is never granted in life, but in Lo Celso case i truly hope as i wished for all those who he operated/did surgery before, even all them are far from my favorite players or from different sport’s actually sone of them been quite the opposite to be honest, but as we are talking about surgery i allways hoped fir the best for all those he did surgery’s in the past as i do hope also fir those who might need surgery( hopefully not) in da future as also for all the sport’s as when everyone from the top are playing never Mind what sport’s we are talking about it is obvious also that all of those inviduals in different sports team or invidual sports make’s the very needed difference for all those sport’s around the world to look more intresting and also more competive etc…as this is usual blah, blah, blah from me as it is obvious everyone following sports know this etc…, but i just felt like to write something, though as i can not cheer myself at this moment, because of Lo Celso and therefore i find it even more hard to cheer you up and i’m truly sorry that as i said before i do not have really anything more to say than talk about the guy who did the surgery for Lo Celso and to wish from bottom of my heart that he will be fine and be able once again to be that Lo Celso we all knew so well for Arg NT… Ok this might sound fir sone like it is the end for Lo Celso, but that is not what i’m trying to say as it is quite the opposite and i’m pretty confident he will be back forsure as when obviously i don’t know that, but the timing of this, though all this since start of the season went not really right for him at all as Conte left him out for USA tour and i think his pre-season obviously was not that great, though i do not want to blame anyone for that even it is true that it is clear that Spurs only intrest in him is money as every single player us valid for some amount, and also talked about this money story and how i felt about many times before as when i was younger even we can’t really compare til’ today and present prices as everything in the world has changed obviously that much, but Still money did not had so much power before at 70’s. 80’s and even in the early 90’s etc…

    • Me too. still feel a void since he doesn’t have a replacement of his quality, + they are out of form, low minutes, or just coming back from injury. As bad as it is, Papu is world class on his day, Palacios seems to have been improving quickly, and Enzo is on fire in league. But even then, knowing we have solid replacements, i still can’t help but feel the lingering sting and fear.

  17. Villarreal’s Champions League run last season played a huge role in both Foyth and Rulli both getting picked. Yes, Rulli singlehandedly helped Liverpool knock Villarreal out with his school girl type nervous breakdown but prior to that match all three Argentines played significant role in helping their club reach the semis. Rulli had great matches both in la-liga and Champions league and won couple of MoM awards and Foyth dealth with every world class winger at his flank with ease which is why Barca bid £60 million for him and had it not been for that injury he would be playing for Barca. Lo-celso was instrumental against Bayen and we will miss him badly!!! The starting lineup against UAE will more or less determine the playing XI against Saudi and from that match onwards the starting lineup will totally depend on players performance and form.

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