Nicolás Otamendi spoke at a press conference on Monday.
Otamendi was the player with Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni who spoke at a press conference. Here is what he had to say:
“I enjoy these moments because it will be my last World Cup with the national team. I enjoy the competition, the day to day, my team mates. This is my fourth World Cup and it’s wonderful to defend the colors of my country.
“We are preparing to compete, I think we have to be humble and work to face this competition. We arrive in good shape and we are giving it our all because we know everyone will want to beat us.
“I think the young players in the national team are getting more and more involved, they put the senior players in a situation of healthy competition and that makes it that Argentina keep giving its all to reach the final stages.
“When Qatar was over, I didn’t know if I would be here but I mentally prepared myself to keep going and seized the moments. I got ready in the best way possible thanks to the competition and I am grateful for the chance I have today.
“We needed to be able to unlock those moments when we had to play finals and couldn’t win. We made the click by winning at the Maracanã and we are very aware of what came after, of the country’s unity and what happened in Qatar.”
Otamendi can definitely be in the starting XI. But he needs to be subbed off around 65th. He almost cost us the last World Cup when he failed to cope with the speedsters of France. Algeria would not be different. They play fast football and sometimes very rough too.