Serious. Lionel Messi He kept that gesture as soon as he heard the final whistle of the very hard fall here in Lusail, but he greeted each teammate in the central circle, the meeting place for the Argentine players and then headed in droves towards the locker room. There, there was silence. At the exit, the captain was one of those who spoke when passing through the mixed zone. Self-criticism, regrets, but a message of optimism was what the 10th broadcast on a Qatari afternoon to forget.
How did you notice the group, especially those who were debuting at a World Cup, in the dressing room? Was the question from Clarion to Rosario, who responded without filters: “Muertos. It’s a very hard blow because we didn’t expect to start like this. We were confident in winning and starting with the three points that give you peace of mind.”
In the same reply, Leo took the opportunity to lower the line as a leader and mark the path for what is to come: “This group has always stood out for its unity and strength and it is time to be more united than ever and to know that We have to go back to the basics of how our game works to try to beat Mexico. It’s time to show that we are a real group“.
He also left a message for the Argentine fans, who crowded the stands of the stadium and the millions who followed him on TV from the country: “The message is calm. We know that it is a very hard blow, a defeat that hurts, but that people trust because this group is not going to leave them stranded. We’re going to try to get back on track.”
And he added in the same haranguing tone: “It’s time to be united, to turn the page and not think about what happened anymore. Take reflections, improve what we did wrong and think about Mexico. We always said that we were going to try to win every game and now more than ever.”
Messi, who put the temporary 1-0 penalty, which meant his seventh goal in World Cups, was clear when it came to finding answers to what happened on the pitch and this surprise 2-1 defeat at the start of the World Cup. World.
“We found ourselves with the goal very quickly, we had situations of canceled goals and at that moment we believed that we were going to have many more situations like this. That’s why we made the mistake of speeding up and playing in one and not moving the ball from one side to the other. Anxiety and the game itself played against us. We did not find situations to be one-on-one with the goalkeeper. We did not move the ball to find the right moment and many times we fell into offside, which they they did it very well too”, was his complete analysis of the game.
Argentina had three choked cries for advanced position. One from Messi and two from Lautaro Martínez. But, in addition, he systematically fell offside in as many attacks. Why? “We knew that they did that thing of throwing the high line. We accelerated a little bit. They joined well and did not leave spaces. We can’t find the way back. If any of the goals had not been annulled, that already changes your story, but we can no longer change it. Then they went 2-1 and we began to mess up, lose our performance, play desperately, cross and we couldn’t tie,” he said. the flea.
In addition, he made a particular reading of having quickly taken advantage: “Having scored the goal so early made us confuse, it hurt us. We knew that in the first game this could happen if we did not play in the best way as we had been doing. We did not find the game that we had been demonstrating in all this time. And as the game went on it became more difficult,” he explained without hesitation.
Messi naturally assumed his role as the maximum reference on this black Tuesday for him and the National Team. The beginning of the road was with an unexpected setback. Leo finished answering and continued silently walking down the winding corridor of the mixed zone through which all players are forced to pass.
In the end, someone asked him for a selfie. The captain stopped, interrupted his worried face to give a shy smile and left. Now they will have to prop up a beaten group indoors, but with two vital commitments ahead against Mexico and Poland to recover and go to the round of 16.
Lusail, Qatar. Special delivery.
