“We wanted to make up for the loss (against Saudi Arabia). It was a great game today, we played very well collectively,” said Alexis McAllister, Argentina’s goal scorer. A first half penalty.
“We tried to stay positive, to stay calm. We didn’t feel down. We tried to be optimistic and go for the match. Luckily we managed to win and move on.”
There was more zip, better combinational play and an altogether more polished Argentina on Wednesday, when they had 24 shots on target, which suggests a theory put forward by Belgium coach Roberto Martinez last week may be correct.
Martínez said that most teams would be ready to compete in Qatar by their third pool game, as they had so little time to train before the World Cup and some reached the final without any friendly matches.
“This tournament is going to make you grow and develop as you go along. If you do that by winning games, that’s an incredible advantage,” he added.