Argentina should only be afraid of Argentina: Lionel Messi
In a recent interview with the press the Argentinean wonder boy Lionel Messi said, "Argentina should only be afraid of Argentina, I say this with maximum respect to all the other teams but we have quality and talent. We must remain concentrated and go forward as we have been doing, training with care and staying united. We really should not be afraid of anybody”.
In other words Lionel Messi said that the Argentinean team should only guard themselves against complacency. He believes that the self-satisfaction and contentment is the real problem that can lead Argentina down. Otherwise, the team has all the talent in the world to win the World Cup in South Africa. He has also come out and praised the national coach and a hero, Diego Maradona. He said that the coach has an excellent influence on the players because of his stature in Argentina’s national football.
Lionel Messi started Argentina’s World Cup campaign against Nigeria; a match in which Argentina emerged victorious, although it was a hard fought victory. Messi however missed a number of chances, including some exceptional saves by the opposition goal-keeper. Also, the team looked weak in the defence and the midfield, which clearly shows the real intention behind Messi’s statement.
Complacency is a sin in football, as history suggests that many teams lost their matches against easier opponents because they were self-satisfied and content with their team’s preparations and their chances to win. One of the recent examples is the Spanish side losing in the Confederation Cup semi-final. Although Spain was tipped to win everything in the tournament but they lost against a meagre U.S. side and were thrown out of the tournament. On paper, there was no comparison between the teams, but on the field, one team lacked the passion to win the match. The same thing happened against many big teams in the recent World Cup, as England, France and Italy all drew their respective matches.
So, Lionel Messi has warned against the same problem. It clearly indicates that he believes his team can win the matches, and all they need is passion. It is very important for the team to stay focused as a group, which would ultimately increase the strengths and would cover the weaknesses.
This is rather an optimistic approach from Lionel Messi whose major aim would be to generate some passion into the team, which otherwise seems week. Argentina should fear a lot of things other than themselves. First of all, the team faced real problems in the qualifiers for the World Cup, and there are many teams who have done better. Although, Messi believes that the team is different now, but it does not seem so. The midfield has weakened and the defence is not performing well. In the midfield, there seems to be inefficient coordination between the players. So, the biggest thing that Argentina should worry about is their preparations and their lack of depth in the squad.
Also, many pundits and Argentina fans have disliked the coaching style of Maradona. In the qualifiers he always started Messi on the right hand side which was a disaster. Now, he has chosen to play him just behind the defenders to allow him some room to operate, which seems to be a better option. But, the Coach doing experiments at this stage of the event can prove to be disaster for the team. There is no doubt that Maradona, due to his persona and hero-like personality, would be able to influence the players, but this influence should be backed by some strong tactics. Maradona however, seems to be out of options and if his current team does not work, he would have no cards left to play.
There are a lot of things to fear for Argentina. The only good thing that they got from the first match was that despite strict defending by Nigeria, Messi made room and shot volleys at goal. On a very serious note, Messi is the only hope for Argentina and the team should fear for an injury to him rather than anything else.
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