2024-09-11 03:01:00
This time it was Colombia’s turn to celebrate. And this time all the anger was from Argentina, although, of course, it cannot be compared: The same scene but in reverse had occurred less than two months ago, in the final of the Copa América in the United States. Of course, This match did not have the same significancesince it was for the South American Qualifiers and The Argentine national team remains at the top of the table.
Even so, no if I see it according to Lionel Scaloni at the post-match press conference. However, he stood up and admitted: “First of all, we congratulate Colombia, who won. We played a good match, in keeping with the circumstances. We could have won it as well as tied it.”
Asked about the penalty that James Rodríguez converted into a goal and represented Colombia’s victory, he said: “I’m not going to talk about the penalty play, it’s already done.”; welcome to those who have charged for it. And as for the result, sometimes it goes one way and other times the other. But the truth is that the match was practically not played. I don’t know if the people of Colombia will like me talking about the heat.I would rather not talk about it so much, because it is for both of us; What is wrong is playing a game at that time, it doesn’t seem healthy to me”the Argentine coach stressed.
For his part, the midfielder Leandro Paredeswho had to be a starter again in coffee lands, He referred to the penalty play which ended up tipping the balance in favor of the Colombians: “For me, on the pitch, it wasn’t a penalty. Nico (Otamendi) dived forward”he began by saying, and went further with the decisions of the Chilean referee Piero Maza. “The strange thing is that I haven’t seen Julian’s”he said about a first-half play involving the Atlético Madrid striker and goalkeeper Camilo Vargas in the Colombian area.
Paredes, however, tried to downplay the defeat. “It’s part of football; we don’t like the result because we play to win, but we are aware that we can lose. We played against a great rival and on a very difficult pitch,” he said, but highlighted the level of the National Team: “Beyond the penalty decision, It was a close match. The heat? It’s no excuse, even though we’re not used to it.”