The technical director of the Argentine national team, Lionel Scaloni, praised Lionel Messi as “the best (footballer) of all time” after his influential performance in the victory on penalties against the Netherlandss to advance to the semifinals of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
The coach praised the status of the “Albiceleste” captain in defense with the intention of minimizing his importance on the part of DT Louis Van Gaal and some “Oranje” footballers, with whom there was a hot match at the Lusail Stadium.
“I think that the game was for that, they are things that remain on the field,” he considered about the reaction of his players in the qualifying festivities. Messi approached the Dutch bank to face DT and then declared that Van Gaal “sells smoke with a good game, but then he throws balls.”
The Argentine captain was annoyed by previous statements by Van Gaal, who had discredited his importance when he does not have contact with the ball. “We showed that we played with 11. I think Leo felt a bit touched and he proved to be the best of all time. We are happy to have him,” Scaloni declared.
Messi, 35, assisted full-back Nahuel Molina for the first goal and scored the second that allowed him to equal Gabriel Batistuta as the greatest Argentine scorer (10) in the history of the World Cups.
In turn, with seven guaranteed games in this competition, he will be able to surpass the German Lothar Matthäus (25) as the footballer with the most appearances since the birth of FIFA’s highest competition. Tonight he added 24 and equaled another German, Miroslav Klose.
“I think that the game was for that, they are things that remain on the pitch”
Beyond the figure of 10, Scaloni stressed that the Argentine team “has the spirit to know how to face the situations” that arise at all times, referring to the extension that the Netherlands forced with their agonizing draw in the eleventh minute of discount .
“We didn’t deserve to go to penalties but even so the team continued to show their faces. We had it under control but this sport is like that. They gave us a very strange game in the second half,” he considered.
Scaloni avoided talking about the arbitration of the Spanish Antonio Mateu Lahoz and concentrated on highlighting the qualities of his team (“will, youth and pride”).
“We never thought about stopping attacking. In the first half of extra time we had the chance to bring in (Ángel) Di María, but we also knew he wasn’t at 100 per cent and we couldn’t stop thinking about the penalties and the shooters. Many things were going through their heads,” he said.
“We’ve given many tests of character so far in this World Cup. I think this team shows that it has what it takes at any moment and that’s very important,” he said, happy about qualifying for the semifinals.
“It is always an objective to play all seven World Cup games, now we will have a great rival like Croatia ahead of us. It will be a very nice game and we hope to live up to it,” he said.
“We didn’t deserve to go to penalties but even so the team continued to show its face. We had it under control but this is the way this sport is. They gave us a very strange game in the second half”
When recovering what happened in Lusail, Scaloni understood that the Netherlands “did not deserve to draw” and accepted that “they played in a way that was not expected” due to the proposal to locate two tall forwards to look for them with the passing game at the end of the game.
“It’s legal, they were staying out of the World Cup. I’m not messing with that, it’s something that was giving them results,” he acknowledged.
Finally, the Argentine DT sent a strong message to his hometown of Pujato due to a car accident that cost a young man his life and left another seriously injured: “I want to send a big hug to the whole town, when this happens we get all sad, a hug to the families and all the people”, he pointed out.
