Lusail, Nov 22 (UNI) Lionel Messi on Tuesday urged Argentina to unite and deliver a compelling response to the hard blow of an opening-match defeat by Saudi Arabia at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
"There are no excuses. It is a very hard blow for everyone, we didn't expect to start like this. We are going to be more united than ever. This group is strong and we have shown it. This is a situation we did not have to go through in a long time. Now we have to show this is a real group," Messi said as reported by fifa.com.
The courageous Saudis stunned their illustrious opponents with two goals inside five second-half minutes to turn the game on its head.
The defeat leaves Argentina, whose 36-match unbeaten run went up in smoke, very little margin for error in games against Mexico on Saturday and Poland next Wednesday.
"Things happen for a reason," Messi said. "We have to prepare for what's coming, we have to win (against Mexico and Poland) and it depends on us. We knew that Saudi Arabia was a team with good players, that moves the ball well and advances the (defensive) line a lot."
"We had worked on it, but that's why we had many goals ruled out. Perhaps we did not find the right moment to avoid falling into the trap," Messi concluded.
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