The regrets after the defeat in the debut of the World Cup in Qatar turned this Wednesday into joy in the dressing room of Argentina, classified as first despite starting the game against Poland with a mistake from Leo Messi's penalty spot. “I had the goal on the penalty. Angered for having made a mistake, but the team did not fall and came out stronger from my mistake", assessed the Argentine captain, "convinced" that they were going to "take the game forward in the second half", when the winning goals came (0-2) of the youngsters Alexis Mac Allister and Julián Álvarez.
“We knew that when the first goal came in it was going to change the game”, indicated a Messi who ended up satisfied with the performance of the albiceleste: “We finally found what we are. The victory in the match against Mexico gave us peace of mind”.
Despite correcting the situation after losing to Saudi Arabia, the former Barça player lowered his euphoria and predicted that the round of 16 match against Australia "is going to be very tough." “We cannot trust anyone. It was shown that this World Cup is very close, we live it firsthand, ”he added about the Australian team, the executioner of Denmark.
"Tranquility. We took an important step. We achieved the first objective when things had turned ugly and now another World Cup begins. Hopefully we can keep what we did today", concluded Messi.
"He is an example of perseverance. He doesn't need to win the World Cup to be the best. If we win, he will be the happiest and so will we," midfielder Rodrigo De Paul praised Messi. The man from Atlético de Madrid reiterated that "the objective was to go through as first" and recalled that the current Argentine team, champion of the Americas, "is used to great things".
"We started with difficult things but we have to assess how we finished the group," added De Paul, who after being one of those discussed against Saudi Arabia made up for it with a good game against Poland. "We came to the World Cup as one of the candidates because we have the best in the world, but there are very even teams and there are many surprises," he concluded on equality in the World Cup.
"We knew we had to win the two games that were left after losing the first one. That was the goal. We played a great game. I'm personally happy, but the most important thing is to go to the next round", explained Mac Allister, author of the first goal with a first-class shot after a cross from the right by Nahuel Molina.
