2022 World Cup Group C opening match against Saudi Arabia was a shocking defeat for Argentina, coach Lionel Scaloni, star player Lionel Messi and other players made post-match statements.
Argentina, who lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia in the opening match of Group C of the 2022 World Cup despite taking the lead, was in a state of sadness at the end of the match. Technical director Lionel Scaloni, star player Lionel Messi and other players evaluated the shocking defeat.
—-Saudi Arabia’s offside tactic marked the match against Argentina
Saying that they lost a match they could have won, coach Scaloni said; “We knew how Saudi Arabia played. We knew that the opponent could play ultra defense in this match. The offsides were also very millimetric. The first half was completely ours. Everything changed when the score was 1-1. We could have stayed more calm after the goal. The goals came in 48 and 51. For physical reasons we couldn’t convert the score and we will investigate the reasons for that. We still have two games left and we will win them both. We were one of the favorites before this game. We should be. These kinds of results happen in the World Cup. We have to keep working on the things that are not going well.”
MESSI: A HEAVY BLOW! NO EXCUSES
There are no excuses. We have to be together on this path. It’s a heavy blow for all of us, we didn’t expect to start like this. Everything happens for a reason. We have to win the remaining games and we have to win and it depends on us. We knew that Saudi Arabia have very good players, they move the ball quickly and they have very good offside tactics. We worked on these things but we rushed too much in the game. We have to remember what kind of team we are basically and forget about this game and think about the next games.
—–2022 World Cup Argentina shocked by Saudi Arabia
DI MARIA: WE COULD HAVE WON 5-0
We could have won the Saudi Arabia game 5-0. Now we have two final games ahead of us and we will do our best to qualify.
LAUTARO MARTINEZ: 2 FINAL MATCHES AHEAD OF US
It hurts like hell. We had hopes of starting the World Cup with a great win. We lost because of our mistakes, mistakes that made the difference in the details. We have to correct these mistakes. We could have scored more than 1 goal in the first half. Now we have 2 final games ahead of us.
