Lionel Scaloni held a press conference before Argentina’s match against Brazil.
Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni spoke at a press conference where he commented on who could start against Brazil. Here is what he had to say:
“I have decided on the team but I haven’t told them yet, I’m going to do that first. There is a chance that Di María will be a starter, as there is for the rest of his team mates. The idea is not to make too many changes to the team but there will surely be some changes.
“If there are changes, which there will be some, it won’t be because of performance. Because they have shown me throughout these matches a very even performance. I won’t change because they played a good match or a bad match but to try to hurt the opponent and to prevent the opponent from hurting us. But under no circumstances would we do it for one match, it is not our characteristic and in this case, it is a specific case, it is a decision we will make based on the opponent we face.”
Scaloni also spoke about Lautaro Martínez not scoring with Argentina:
“We have to see how many games have passed because to say “one year without scoring in the national team” is like 15 games. He scored an important penalty goal. I’m not a big fan of statistics, he scores often at his club. Julian also scores often and it is not worrying. He looks good, he is fine. It is a relative statistic. It is evident that he has a goal and it does not worry me. The complicated thing is to decide one or the other.”
He also spoke about the loss against Uruguay:
“We always said we were not unbeatable. It was obvious, beyond the last result. You have to be prepared for that and to continue competing. No one likes to lose and that is clear, we are first ones who want to recover. There are times when even if we lose, the form is important. The team, even though they didn’t play a good match, never stopped looking for their game, they kept trying to equalize.
“I think the team competed and that makes me feel at ease. We have a great match ahead of us, a great opponent that will be tough. We have to keep doing what we have been doing, compete and try to get the three points. There is no other way.
“We analyzed why the loss happened, we have our idea. We are lucky that we have another game coming up and that is the best thing. The hard thing would be to for us to see each other in a while and it would cost much more, now we have a rematch soon and that is the most important thing.”
The coach was also asked about Brazil and their loss against Colombia:
“You have to look at Brazil’s match against Colombia, it is relative to say that they were beaten, they played a good match. With Colombia, they played a good match until minute 76, the result is misleading. Brazil are at a good level, they are a big team, no matter who they have, they have to go out to win, it will not change the momentum of the team. The coach has a way of playing, he will not change it. You never know if it’s a good or bad moment, it’s Brazil and we know what we have to face.”
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