Fabrizio Romano has had his say on Argentina’s shock World Cup defeat to Saudi Arabia yesterday as Lionel Messi possibly faces further heartache in this competition.
The transfer news expert, writing in his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, made it clear he was not writing Argentina off just yet, because the mood inside their dressing room is strong.
Messi remains one of the very finest players in world football, and so it seems premature to write Argentina off, even if yesterday’s 2-1 loss against Saudi Arabia was a real wake-up call for one of the pre-tournament favourites.
Romano still seems to think there’s hope for Messi and co., though he also admitted this was one of the most surprising World Cup results he’d seen.
“What a result yesterday – a huge shock as Saudi Arabia came from behind to beat Lionel Messi’s Argentina 2-1. I doubt we’ll see a bigger upset at this World Cup and it’s up there with the most surprising results I can remember,” Romano said.
“Still, I think Argentina have everything to return stronger and change the situation. I’m sure they have a great group, the connection between players in the dressing room is very good and they can do good things with Messi as leader of course.
“It’s not the start they wanted, but you can’t write them off. I hope we will see the best of Messi soon at what is probably his last World Cup.”
Messi will undoubtedly be desperate to turn things around for his country, with the Paris Saint-Germain forward highly unlikely to get another chance to play in this competition again.
Of course, you can’t entirely rule out Messi still playing for Argentina when he’s 39, but even an all-time great like him has to stop eventually, and he’s already showing some signs of no longer being the player he was at his peak.