Argentina had a disappointing start to the World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday. The team of national coach Lionel Scaloni surprisingly lost 1-2 against Saudi Arabia. Football zone-presenter Kalum van Oudheusden spoke the day after the defeat with Argentinian Nacho Zambello, reporter of GOALabout the false start of his country.
According to de Zambello, expectations ahead of the tournament were high. Once again because it is Lionel Messi’s last chance to take off with a world title. “Everyone expects Argentina to be one of the top three contenders to win the World Cup. Not just Argentines,” Zambello begins. “The first game in the group was the easiest on paper, and we should have won it. I honestly don’t know what the expectations are right now…”
The game started without any problems for the South Americans. Argentina received a penalty within ten minutes, which was used by Lionel Messi. “After that goal we thought it was going to be an easy win: 2-0, 3-0 or maybe 4-0,” said Zambello. “Then goals from Martínez and Messi were disallowed, and there were little mistakes in the defense. We thought we could afford that against Saudi Arabia, but in the second half it turned out not to be the case. They scored twice, and it was 1-2. We still had thirty minutes to come back and thought that would be enough. But we lacked creativity: we only gave long balls behind the defense of Saudi Arabia”
Star player Messi also failed to take his team by the hand, Zambello saw. “He didn’t play well. That actually applied to all Argentine players. Messi was no longer the big star of Argentina: he couldn’t save the team on his own but was just there as a team player. He didn’t come to dribbles and passes. He gave one good pass, which could have resulted in another goal. But it wasn’t a good game for him.”
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Due to the defeat against Saudi Arabia, Argentina will have to win the remaining two group matches (against Mexico and Poland) to qualify for the eighth finals of the global final tournament. Zambello is also aware that there is still hope. “Right after the game I was disappointed, I felt like the world was ending. But if Argentina wins the next two games, they will continue. There is just no room to make mistakes.”