Lautaro said that Argentina dominated the match against the Saudis and did not deserve to lose, with three goals disallowed by VAR for close offside calls.
They now face a low-scoring, injury-plagued Mexico squad that shrugged off pre-tournament pessimism in their first game, drawing 0–0 against Poland and only thanks to a superb save from veteran goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. The reason saved from defeat.
“We are very optimistic and I think we lost because of small details, because of our mistakes. We have studied our next opponent and I think we are ready,” Lautaro said.
Coach Lionel Scaloni said Lionel Messi is fit and ready to play despite reports of a possible ankle injury and believes his team have what it takes to bounce back from their opening defeat.
“When you’re out there you have to rise and my players have been able to do that,” Scaloni said.
“We won’t change the way we play because we lost to Saudi Arabia. I might make a change or two in selection but not in our system, there’s no question about it.”
“This group will leave everything on the pitch to recover from that massive blow.”