The Albiceleste coach reviewed the background and warned that his team “is going to compete” in the next continental event, beyond having the local team in favor. “The only thing we can do is try to make the country happy, but not sell smoke,” he explained.
On the eve of the resumption of South American Qualifiers (Days 7 and 8 will be played in June), the coach Lionel Scaloni he opined on the chances of the Argentina Selection in the next America Cup, which will be developed both in the country and in the Colombian territory, taking into account the 25 matches that leads to the front of the albiceleste team since August 2018.
Passing on the statistics, the successor of Jorge Sampaoli, with no experience at the club level, but with a great task in the youth of the albiceleste, He faced 15 friendly matches, six appearances for the Copa América and four commitments for the South American Qualifiers, with a balance of 15 wins, six draws and four losses, with 46 goals for and 18 against.
“I believe that our country is prepared to know that Argentina is going to compete, but that it does not have to win forced. We have hit so many sticks for believing that we were the best … and then not being the best or, be careful! be the worst. We have a clear competitive gene. Any coach would like to have an Argentine in his team, but that does not make us invincible at all“, declared Scaloni in an interview with Marca.
And I add: “And, if not, let’s go to the numbers: we won the last World Cup in 1986; the last America’s Cup, in 1993. There have been many years without titles. The only thing we can do is try to make the country happy, but not sell smoke, not go out and say: ‘we are going to win for you’. No. Yes, we are going to try to put aside what is happening in the country and give them joy“.
As for the Argentine success and the pressure to win a title again, the DT stated: “In something I think we have changed. We went to the Copa América in Brazil, we were not champions, as we were third, but the general opinion was good. And in the previous Cups we lost on penalties and it seemed like a catastrophe. People saw a change and we think that’s the way“.
“People see that there is a team that comes out to play in a specific way and, above all, it is a National Team without strange things. We summon those we believe in, and if a player deserves to be in the National Team, we bring him. People feel identified. I think that Argentines are realizing, little by little, that only one wins and, lately, it is not Argentina that wins. To win again on a regular basis, many things are missing“, he detailed.
Regarding the disqualifications he receives for his “inexperience” as a coach, the coach confessed that it is not something that has him worried and shared a pearl: “One day ‘El Maestro’ Tabárez (Uruguay coach) grabbed me by the hand and told me: ‘When they tell you that you have no experience, you should say: it’s true, but I have experiences.’ I mean with this that I have been playing at the highest level for more than 20 years and that is an advantage. Venturing to say: ‘this one does not know’ … is risky. There are young people like Pep or Nagelsmann who are great coaches. You never stop learning, being 40 years old or being a 60 year old coach with 30 years of experience“.
Argentina National Team: How Lionel Messi arrives at the Copa América 2021
“It will arrive well, as always. With us, Leo has shown that he is well, comfortable, with a new generation that he hardly knew. And now he is one more and he gets along well with everyone. We have managed to make a team in which he can join. And, in addition, now you can see that in Barca he has found a regularity. All that helps“said Scaloni.
Despite having one of the best players in the world, the coach opted to take pressure off La Pulga after the controversial burofax and the traumatic departure of Josep Maria Bartomeu from Barcelona. “He is also very aware that football is no longer about one player only and that it needs his teammates. Him, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mbappé … The best in the world need their team. A crack can score you a goal, he can win you a game … but to win a championship, you need much more than the best in the world“, he clarified.
All eyes today are on the future of Messi, whose contract with the Catalan team expires on June 30. In this sense, the former Newell’s and Students preferred not to enter into controversy. “I believe that it is already solved. I have no doubt. He already knows very well what he is going to do, he will not reach June 30 without knowing where he is going to play. I have no idea and I don’t mess with it. You have to be on the sidelines of all that. He is mature and knows everything well“he admitted.
Will it be Messi’s penultimate chance to win a title, bearing in mind that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is coming next? “It will be when he wants. And the day that he does not play with Argentina anymore, we will realize many things. As happened with Diego (Maradona), who when he stopped playing, we realized what it was like to have that guy on the court. Therefore, with Leo you should not deprive yourself of anything while you are“he slipped.
“My talks with him are normal. I write to you only when necessary. If, for example, you have to speak before a concentration, my collaborators write to let you know how it is going to be, the topic of travel … and little else. We are not very above him. When we are focused, we are closer, we chat and the relationship flows, in addition to we have known each other for a long time for having been a partner of mine and of several of the guys on my team. It is very difficult not to see a match of his. And if some games overlap, we talk to my coaching staff and we take turns“, he concluded.
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