Lautaro Martínez spoke about the Argentina national team, the loss vs. Saudi Arabia, the game vs. Mexico and the pressure at the World Cup.
Martínez started for Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia and scored two goals which were ruled out for offside. He spoke at a press conference on Friday regarding the team. Here is what he had to say about the team and the loss vs. Saudi Arabia:
“We were defeated because of details, our mistakes. That is behind and we will think of what is ahead of us, Mexico. We have analyzed our opponents and we are ready to face them.”
“We were sad, were in pain because of the match that we had vs. Saudi Arabia. But as I Said before, that is behind because in a World Cup you don’t have enough time. What we need to do is to be ready to face a really strong opponent. We already faced them two years ago and we did well the last time we face each other. And now we have to be ready to prepare for the game and to think about winning.
It was a really hard blow to be honest. Because we were really excited because of our good streak, dynamics. We haven’t been through a situation like this in a long time. But we are a strong team, very much united and we know what we want. We will try to keep calm, to prepare as much as possible in the last hours because at a World Cup you don’t have a lot of time.
“This team, it’s main feature is to have the ball and of course the high quality of players. You enjoy it on the pitch, during training and that gives us joy. But also during training as enjoy, we enjoy it as that is the message from the coach.”
Regarding the pressure of having played in his first game at a World Cup:
“For many of us, this was the first match at a World Cup. We were anxious, excited, many emotions. Our families in the stands too. Then when you hear the whistle from the referee, everything is behind. We lost because of our mistakes, that is behind and now we need to think of the upcoming match. We need to think positively, to stay calm. Mexico is a tough opponent. We will have to have counter attack and make the most of our opportunities and know how we will be playing the game.
“There is no pressure because we rely, we are confident, we have trust in the coaching staff, trust in every player and we are keeping our calm. Yes, we were sad about the opening match but now we are thinking about Mexico. We are confident, we will break our backs for Argentina, for our fans.”
In regards to his two goals that were ruled out for offside:
“Regarding the VAR, what can I say? It still surprised me that if it was onside, it shouldn’t have been ruled out. But that’s not down to me. Regarding Mexico, we have played them, we have analyzed how they play, defend, attack.
“Tomorrow will be like a final because we need to win. It will be a really important match. We need to show that tomorrow on the pitch, we have shown that we have the players, we have the quality and that will be key.”
Argentina vs Germany final!
Still no mention anywhere of Almada featuring on Sat. The guy is super excited joining the NT, just unleash his power and get more goals.
Damaris 2nd half bring on Dybala
Neymar is out from the group stages minimum, rather even more.
I think even from PQ..!
Im getting tired with all the analysis and „advice“ here! Just let them play!!
I love the spirit look forward not behind. We not only need to win the next but also the group. Why on earth would you want to play France now
Exactly! Just let the team play. My friend who supports Brazil encouraged me to rewatch Argentina game as he believed they didn’t play as bad as people are saying. I rewatched the game and we played a good game. Had Martinez’s goal stood it would have been a totally different outcome. Get back to the pressing we showed against Italy and we will surely beat Mexico and Poland.
Pls walk the talk .! Only That’s what we fans need.
I am not sure why Montiel needs to replace Molina, it’s not like Molina was responsible for our debacle vs Saudi Arabia. Chucky Lozano normally plays on the right so he would be matched up against our left-backs, although he can play on the left too.
Previous stats of our record vs Mexico are meaningless in my opinion. Things can change at any moment, we have to ignore past record against them and play to get 3 points. We need a solid midfield, to keep Messi higher up the pitch and to win the battle in the middle of the park. If Enzo is a key to that, so be it, let him show his worth.
Why do we replace Romero when he only had 1 bad game🤔
This is not because of bad game or not ..he’s still not 100%. When he’s back to full fitness..he will be starting again.
Montiel give more for defense. Molina adds to attack
Hope you time your runs better this time
“We have analyzed our opponents and we are ready to face them.”
Hopefully this time around they actually did proper analysis unlike the Saudi match. We had couple of Scaloni’s subordinates watch the Saudi friendly in person only for them to field an aging squad to fall for the offside trap numerous times. Tata is another stubborn Argentine coach and knowing a park-the-bus strategy is the best way to defeat our team , he might still pursue with his possession based approach and which is why a deep lying CM with good balance of creativity ,defensive and scoring skills is required, in Enzo!
Also another important thing is using Messi strategically. The problem with Leo is he wants to play every sec of every match and he is too big of a personality to be benched. If someone can convince him to be subbed out after we are on our to comfortably win a match then we could help him conserve his energy and also could use Dybala’s creative skills and Correa’s work-rate! Same goes with Dimaria and Lautaro, these two needs to be replaced at around 70th mark. Both were out of gas and which is why we couldn’t score a single goal in the entire second half.
The second important thing is our two midfield generals , Depaul and Paredes. We can’t win this world cup without them stepping up. We need Depaul’s long passes and long shots and Paredes’s quick and intelligent passes to the forwards. If these two show up in the next two matches then we will wreak havoc in the remaining two matches.
The most important thing is not conceding early and trying our best to not concede at all!! Out margin for error is null!! We have to keep things extremely tight in the back which means no error. Montiel is used to making silly errors and hopefully when he subs Molina he keeps his flank safe and secure!! Both our midfield and defense along with our hero Goal Keeper Emi will have to make sure of this . If we don’t concede there is no way we won’t score at least a goal or two!! I predict 2-0 win!!
They did analyze it last time. Over-analyzed it really. They tried so hard to exploit Saudi high line that they kept getting caught offside, and they forgot their usual style of play that involves dominating the midfield.
Messi was subbed off vs Nigeria in 2014. So I am sure he wouldn’t mind getting subbed off. But we actually need to be winning comfortably for that.
Time to talk in pitch, not off the pitch. Hopefully everyone runs including Messi and give everything.
Comments are closed.