Paris — Lionel Messi, captain of Argentina, has stated that he is counting down the days till the World Cup and that he believes his team has a good chance of winning the competition.
Messi, who will play in his sixth World Cup in Qatar, told Star+ that he is nervous yet optimistic about the competition.
Argentina will travel in Qatar with strong confidence after winning the 2021 Copa America final against hosts Brazil. Messi believes the victory was a turning point for his squad after a string of near misses.
“In the World Cup, anything is possible. Each match is incredibly difficult. Messi stated that favorites do not always end up victorious.
“I don’t know if we’re the favorites, but because to its history, Argentina is always a contender. Even more so due to the current situation, we are not the favorites. I believe that other teams are superior to us.”
The 35-year-old attacker acknowledged this will be his final World Cup, adding that he was in terrific physical condition following a better preseason than last year, when he joined PSG from Barcelona.
Messi’s record with Argentina is diametrically opposed to his club success.
Argentina came close to breaking its lengthy trophy drought three times, but lost to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final and Chile in the 2015 and 2016 Copa America finals.
Messi stated, “I have been playing with the national team for a long time.” “There have been fantastic moments, such as in 2014, 2015, and 2016, yet we were criticized for not being champions and did not win.
We performed flawlessly up to the finals.
Messi stated that he was travelling to Qatar with an optimistic view as the senior statesman of a team packed of young talent that broke Argentina’s 28-year trophy drought with their Copa America triumph.
“It has been really difficult, but in 2019 a new set of young players won the Copa America. That was extremely helpful,” he continued.
Argentina will play the United Arab Emirates in their final warm-up match in November before facing Saudi Arabia in their World Cup Group C opener on November 22. Mexico and Poland are the group’s other two teams.