Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni has stated that Lionel Messi will start against Zambia.
Lionel Scaloni’s team will play Zambia on Tuesday and Messi, who started the match against Mauritania on the bench, will start the match for Argentina on Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference, here is what Scaloni had to say:
“Messi will start tomorrow. I wanted to give Julian a bit of rest and Nico Gonzalez too, to give a chance to other guys.”
Scaloni also commented on the match:
“Let’s hope the team really shows the face we all want again.
“Beyond the names, they’re all good national teams. I don’t take anything for granted, we have to try something else. The idea is to have a fairly well known team to play.
“We have to focus a lot on not losing the intensity, three years have passed since the World Cup, time passes by for everyone. The moments are not the same for every player, in the national team, it is different.
“We are going to compete against whoever it is, that’s the idea. I’d give the team a vote of confidence, I know as a coach that the team is ready.
“Everyone knows what it means to play the last matches, the one’s who have been with us for a while have an advantage because we know them.
“When a national team plays well, it doesn’t matter where it’s from,. We don’t stop to think what continent they are from.”
The nervousness is evident from these statements. Some players are not bringing the desired intensity on the pitch, which is against the Scaloni style of play.