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Rob Dawsonreporter
Lionel Messi tell him Argentina teammates “no excuse” for their shock defeat first Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Argentina slips 2-1 lost at Lusail Stadium despite taking a first-half lead thanks to Messi’s 10th-minute penalty.
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The result will go down as one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, but Messi insists there will be a way back for his team – one of the pre-tournament favorites – if they can deal with failure.
When asked how his teammates felt after the match, Messi said: “Truth? Die. It was a very heavy blow because we didn’t expect to start this way.”
“We expect to get three points, that will help us calm down,” Messi said. “Everything happens for a reason. We have to prepare for what’s coming, we have to win and it depends on us.
“There are no excuses. We will be more united than ever. This team is very strong and we have shown it. It is a situation we have not experienced in a long time. Now we have to show this is a real group.
“It’s a painful loss but we have to continue to believe in ourselves,” he said. “We have to turn the page and move on. We have to analyze what happened. Focus on the positives and turn our attention to the game against Mexico.”
Saudi coach Herve Renard later suggested that Argentina – 48 places ahead of his team in the world rankings – may have lacked motivation.
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However, Messi insists that they have not taken their opponents lightly and told the fans who have arrived in Qatar in the number of thousands that they will turn the tide of the World Cup campaign in the face of them. Mexico and Poland.
“My message to the supporters is to have faith,” added Messi. “We’re not going to let them get stuck.
“We know that Saudi Arabia is a team with good players, they move the ball well and they push fast. [defensive] line a lot. We’ve been working on it, but we’re in a bit of a hurry. We have to go back to our human base. We have to think about what’s next.”
Argentina went to Qatar as the defending Copa America champions and after a 36-match unbeaten streak – they should have equalized Italy as the national team with the longest unbeaten streak in history having avoided defeat on Tuesday.
Coach Lionel Scaloni later admitted that defeat was “hard to swallow” but made the promise that his team would still make it through to Group C.
“They scored two goals in their only two shots on target,” Scaloni said.
“We have to get up. Today is a sad day, but we need to hold our heads high and move on. We are hurt, but we need to turn the tide and win the next games.”
“We continue to believe like we did before. The World Cup has this, you can excel immensely, and things don’t go your way.
“Failure is never a good thing. We came to the World Cup in the best way possible, with a good journey. We know that it will eventually come to an end.
“Fortunately we have two team games and we’ll finish it.”
