Original title: Qatar World Cup丨Australia coach: Messi is one of the best in history, proud of the “Kangaroo Army”
Xinhua News Agency, Doha, December 3rd (Reporters Xiao Yazhuo and Zhang Yifei) In the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar on the 3rd, the Australian team lost 1:2 to the favorite Argentina team. The head coach of the Australian team Arnold praised Argentina after the game Lionel Messi, one of the best players of all time.
“Messi is an unbelievable player,” Alexander-Arnold said. “It’s hard not to be in awe of such a great player.”
On the day of the game, Messi broke the deadlock for Argentina with his iconic left-footed shot, and then Alvarez scored to extend the lead. In the 77th minute, Goodwin of the Australian team made a strong volley from outside the penalty area and caused Enzo Fernandez’s own goal. The score was finally fixed at 2:1.
“I was fortunate to play against Maradona in the player era, and later the team I coached also played against Messi. They are all top players, and the Argentines should be proud.” Arnold said.
The 59-year-old also paid tribute to his players. He said he was proud of every Australian player and that they were “extraordinary”.
“(Losing the game) everyone is very frustrated, you don’t often have the opportunity to play against the third-ranked team in the world.” Arnold said, “Before coming, everyone said we were the worst Australian team in the history of the World Cup, but Now they’ve changed their minds and we’ve reached the round of 16 for the first time since 2006. We’ve also become the first team in Australian football history to win two consecutive World Cups. Both young and old , everyone did a great job.”
In this World Cup, the Australian team is in the same group as the defending champion France, the European Championship semi-finalist Denmark, and the African team Tunisia. The “Kangaroo Legion” performed amazingly in the group stage. Although they lost to the French team in the first game, they defeated Tunisia and Denmark consecutively and finally qualified as the second in the group.