Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni speaks about the loss vs. Uruguay

By
Roy Nemer
-
21

Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni spoke about the team’s 2-0 loss vs. Uruguay.

Lionel Scaloni lost his first match as Argentina coach since the 2-1 defeat against Saudi Arabia at the World Cup. The coach gave an interview to TyC Sports after the match. Here is what he had to say:

“The truth is that it was a match where we were never comfortable. They deserved to win, no doubt. We never found our way, that is the truth. We tried to correct it in the second half with some changes but it seems that it was not our day. But I repeat, it is their merit for the way they played.

“I would have to think about it a lot or watch the match but in the short time that passed, I think they were better, that is the reality. We were not in the match and then will, I will be able to analyze, looking at the development but the opponent sometimes plays and we have to congratulate them. The truth is that they were better.”

Scaloni also spoke about the match against Brazil on Tuesday:

“A very difficult match is coming. We will try our best. I think this team has shown that it can get out of difficult situations. Here, we lose and win as a team, there is no other way. Sometimes you have to give credit to the opponent. We cannot think that just because we are world champions we will never lose.

“We are not unbeatable, I have said it and I will continue to say it. The player feels back up by the support of the people, I hope it will always be like that.”

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

21 Comments

    • The statistics were misleading. We had more shots and possession but they had better chances. We had few clear chances. Even though we won possession by a big margin our passing was sloppy and not at all incisive.

  2. Argentina U-17 through the round 16 after a comfortable win against Poland 4-0 with goal scorer T.Laplace: A .Ruberto; I.Subiabre and Santiago Lopez. Lost the first game against Senegal and won against Japan, finishing top in the group stage, getting better, and hopefully can do much better. Need to improve teamwork and pass the ball to others. It’s a team played not an individual show. 5 of the 8 goals in the group stage were scored by River youth players. GK Florentin is excellent

  3. A good play by the upfront striker of Arg U-17, Roberto, Laplace and Subriabe Echeverri need to be more unselfish. Leading 3-0 at 55 minutes against Poland

    • Thanks for sharing some good news. 4 – 0 was the final score. We topped the group too. Otherwise I went straight into depression after such a horrible performance against Uruguay. There can be wins and losses in football but cannot stand a complete clueless performance. Every one ran like a headless chicken. It was such a shocking performance. In world cup come back was easy against Mexico. Here our next opponent I’d mighty Brazil.

      • Great! Argentina U-17 through the round 16 after a comfortable win against Poland 4-0 with goal scorer T.Laplace: A .Ruberto; I.Subiabre and Santiago Lopez. Lost the first game against Senegal and won against Japan, finishing top in the group stage, getting better, and hopefully can do much better. Need to improve teamwork and pass the ball to others. It’s a team play not an individual show time. 5 of the 8 goals in the group stage were scored by River youth players. GK Florentin is excellent

  4. But I think Scaloni won’t make huge changes until after copa America. The result of next copa America will definitely play an important role in continuity of messi in national team .If get beaten ,he probably will retire .Then a new argentina will emerge ,that’s no doubt .

  5. Soule ,Valentin Caboni, Nico Paz are three important new stars for us . Especially Soule who can take up the job of Messi and De Paul

    Vs Uruguay our midfield is well beaten in terms of speed , Defense ,not to say Molina ,Otamendi, Tagliafico .

    We need skilful, Fast wingers ,box to box ,and strong No.9 unfortunately we don’t have strong no.9 .Possibly only Veliz and Gaich can be tried.

  6. It’s Time to bring in new blood .Several players need to be dropped due to age and injuries . The whole team should forget about 2022 world cup .

    Scaloni is too conservative in giving chance to new players. This national team had won every thing ,so it won’t have any burden to try new things . Vs Uruguay and Brazil will tell us our chance in the coming copa America.

    Palacios no matter how good he was in Germany but I don’t see his effect in the match . Instead Lo celso bring in some Effect indeed .

    We need fast ,tall ,skilful wingers rather than short slow .

    IMO

    Out

    Otamendi ,Pezella,Montiel,Tagliafico,Armani, Palacios,Paredes,Guido ….

    In
    Soule ,Zeballos(if returned from injuries),Nico Paz ,Cristian Medina ,Pablo Solari ,Taty Castellanos ,Gaich ,Benjamin Garre ,N Perez, Valentin Carboni

    My team
    GK : Dibu Martinez ,Walter Benitez,Juan Musso

    Defend
    Left Back : Acuna (Franco Caboni,Ortega ,Esquivel )
    Right Back: Molina(Maffeo,Santiago Simon)
    Right Central Back : Romero( N Perez)
    Left Central Back: Martinez Quart(Senesi)
    Licha martinez isn’t my cup of tea.

    Midfield
    Defensive midfield : De Paul (Mcallister ,Enzo ,Equi Fernandez)

    Central Midfield : Lo celso ( Cristian Medina ,Nico Paz, Martegani, V Caboni , Infantino )

    Wingers: Nico Gonzalez ( Ocampos ,Soule,Benjamin Garre ,Pablo Solari ,Garnacho,Zeballos,Prestianni )

    Strikers : Taty Castellanos (Lautaro ,Alvarez, Gaich or Veliz )

    Plus Messi

    My lineup for future should be
    #####Martinez
    Maffeo#Romero#N Perez#Nico Gonzalez
    ######Martegani
    ###Caboni####Nico Paz
    Soule ##############Zeballos
    ####Taty Castellanos

    But for next year we should make changes step by step as
    #####Martinez
    Molina#Romeri#Perez#Acuna
    ######De Paul
    ###Soule#####Lo celso
    Messi###########Nico Gonzalez
    ########Alvarez

  7. lack of skilled playmaker who can controll mid.we lacks quality skilled plymkr.when a tight match with small space arg.defenetily need a playmaker.otherwise Messi cant do single handedly….

  8. I haven’t follow or watch much football since the WC final in Qatar because after that everything felt completed in terms of being a supporter and a former supporter. I was happy for the team, especially Messi and Di Maria. And also, I have the utmost respect for Scaloni. WC 2022 Flashback, seeing Di Maria weeping on the sideline during the final especially after the equalizer from France had me weak, water in my eyes and everything. France scored the equalizer and at the other end a few minutes later Messi calmly walked over to take a corner kick with no worries and fear in his eyes, 2022 was destined to be Argentina and Messi World Cup. Montiel, Enzo, McCalister were my favorite players outside of Di Maria and Messi. This was a wonderful feeling; back to back to back International Cups, these guys are HERO, and deserve our utmost respect. They exceeded our expectations but like everything else, all dominant football teams come to an end at some point..International championship teams are oftentimes transient, nothing lasts forever.

    I’m not here to criticize the team, just need to point out a few things Scaloni should be working on going forward. It’s tough to win back to back championships with the same exact team. I mean, winning back to back Copa and WC with the same familiar faces was always going to be a tall order. Scaloni should’ve learned from Spain 2014 and Germany 2018, the same familiar faces who had won everything in the past but didn’t have the motivation to win again. Make no mistake, the team Spain had at the 2014 WC was the best in the tournament on paper. Germany sailed through UEFA qualifiers only to be humbled at the 2018 WC. Again, these players won everything, win, lose or draw they were still world champions. With Germany and Spain their transition came late, but their future looks bright especially Spain with all the young players on their national team. Teenagers starting for Spain and Barcelona, but what say Argentina? Mascherano made his international debut before club debut. Scaloni needs to think outside the box, overtime coaches and strategists will figure out your team from top to bottom.

    Scaloni blindly selects his roster because they were a part of the 2022 WC winning team; come on, half the 2022 WC roster needed to be scrapped for the inclusion of new young aspirant faces who would give the team more energy, purpose and hope for the future which is currently lacking at the moment.

    The World Cup winning campaign honeymoon period is over, it’s now time for Scaloni to make some hard choices when it comes to his selection of players, this is where the abilities of a great coach comes in. Like, why are some players just automatically selected even if they’re not playing well, out of form, mostly on the bench/sidelines? Because they won the WC? Nabil Fekir, Thomas Lemar, Steven Nzonzi, Blaise Matuidi, Samuel Umtiti, Tolisso, Djibril Sidibe, Steve Mandanda, Benjamin Mendy, Florian Thauvin etc. all won the World Cup with France in 2018 yet they were nowhere to be seen after a period of time because they either lost form, got injured and some had gotten themselves in legal problem, but with all this said, Didier Deschamps didn’t tie himself down with the whole favorite player mantra, we are a family blah blah blah..These are professional players who are selected to represent their country. If Pogba and Konte had made the 2022 World Cup roster, I doubt France would have made the finals, these players had too much mileage on their legs and not enough motivation. It would have been another 2020 Euro humiliation for France. Tchouaméni was Pogba’s replacement and Rabiot (although not as young asTchouaméni ) filled in for Kante..Rabiot missed out on the 2018 WC so he was super motivated to win in 2022…D. Upamecano, Kolo Muani, M. Thuram, W. Saliba, Axel Disasi, A. Rabiot, Tchouaméni, Camavinga, Fofana, Guendouzi, Koundé none of these guys played for France at the 2018 World Cup, this is one of the main reason France avoid the group stage exist and made it to the final because the coach injected new players (some young and mid 20’s) in the team, players who wanted win just like their teammates from 2018.

    Garnacho should be in the team, if Scaloni considered himself one of the best coaches in the world he should take a player like Garnacho under his wings and do for him what Erik ten Hag is failing to do at Man United. Garnacho is not going to solve all of Argentina’s problems but he sent the wrong message by dropping the kid especially when we’re supposed to be looking towards the future. The kid (Garnacho) is super motivated to play for Argentina; he wanted to be at the 2022 WC, he wanted to play for Argentina at the recent U20 WC which Ten Hag blocked from happening, and most importantly, he chose Argentina over Spain, and he was unequivocal about his decision. Garnacho is the only 18 year old Argentinian right now representing one of the biggest clubs in world football at the moment (Nico Paz is not there yet but he is slowly being integrated into the Real Madrid first team). So yes, Garno has to fight for a spot in a competitive team like Man United, this has to happen, he is young and learning. Facundo Pellistri is not getting enough minutes at Man United but he is starting for Uruguay. Garnacho, Nico Paz, Soule and Federico Redondo should be regular fixtures on the Argentina roster going forward. Why is Scaloni so afraid of introducing young players/new faces? When you’ve won everything as a coach the sky is a limit, you as a coach/person should be building for the future not the short term.Scaloni is now a top coach, he should be taking any player to the national team and make them super competitive as a player. The notion that adding new players will disrupt the chemistry of the team is just a way of keeping the status quo in place.

    Things happened for a reason and Nico Gonzalez not making the World Cup in 2022 was the best thing for Argentina, the same for LoCelso, two ordinary players who are not as impressive as everyone makes them out to be..These two players need to be unselected along with; Armani, Montiel, Guido, Otamendi, Pezella, Parades, Acuna..The whole ‘’going to war’’ for Messi shouldn’t be a reason for getting selected. There are 46 million people living in Argentina, 900 professional players abroad, then add in the local league players. Now why is it that only these same players can be called up over and over again? Why not base selection on the future, players’ form and hard work? Not a big Icardi fan, but why not call him up given his current form? Icardi selection doesn’t even need to be long term but he is the most informed Argentina forward in Euro at the moment. Turning the NT into a friends club is never a good sign, it keeps the team from transitioning from its current state..As I said before, Montiel was one of my favorite 22 WC players but he doesn’t deserve to be selected at this moment.

    This Uruguayan NT team is young, they’re following in the footsteps of the likes of Spain, France, England and Germany. Scaloni tactics can be stultified because of his conservative approach. The war alongside Messi is over now, he accomplished the ultimate prize, it’s time to forge a new path forward else it will be another long time before Argentina win anything again..Scaloni should use this moment to inspire the young players, make them want to be the next World Champions.

  10. Listen gentlemen Uruguay deserves thier win and well done to bielse because Uruguay will never beat us with any other managers we beaten because of biesle’s attacking high pressing energy approach, hey who cares I witness Argentina became world champion and that is the best feeling ever now I can watch my beloved team Argentina without no pressure or anxiety

    Old guards must go period.

  11. When Bielsa was at the helm of Argentina in the WC qualifiers 20+ years ago, Argentina was a beast. We ended on top of the table and everyone feared us.
    Yes. I know we flopped in 2002.

    Uruguay has become that beast now.

    Our defence has a hard time coping with pressure. There is a club team that can absorb pressure like no one else: Atletico Madrid. Scaloni can learn from Simeone.

    0-2.
    The master showed his pupil how it is done.

    I hear the calls for retiring the old guard. That will happen after Copa 24. Now the focus should shift to selecting players that play well and have hit a peak in form, not the usual suspects that lack form.

  12. As I said during the last two qualifiers. This team has obvious and glaring weaknesses, exposed by France, Netherlands and Saudis. If you attack ruthlessly, the defence completely falls apart. Scaloni makes erratic and panicked subs unbalancing the team further. Box Messi out (an increasingly easier task each year) and there is no creativity, as his replacement Dybala has never been given the opportunity to be part of the team.

    And this is the second time we had to come from behind in recent memory, and we failed miserably both times. This is something the team management has to take a long hard look at. We are so used to dominating opponents playing defence, we don’t know how to react when chasing the game.

    We were lucky in the world cup that both Netherlands and France stopped attacking after equalizing and went back into a shell.

    I am surprised it took this long for another team to see through it.

Comments are closed.