He is the leader of the Argentine fund. The only one of that last line that he played the three starting games. One of those who maintained his personal performance despite the collective ups and downs. And right now, one of the best defenders in this World Cup. Yes, Nicolás Otamendi has a top mark in Qatar 2022: he is the one who has won the most duels in the competition.
This is how Frankowski went down (Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
The defender prevailed in 22 of the 31 he had in this World Cup, beating Ibrahima Konaté, the French defender who plays for Liverpool, who closed the group stage with 21. Against Poland, the Argentine confirmed this record: he had to score with Lewandowski and the Polish striker did it. suffered. Although his team did not help him at all, the Barcelona striker did not have any chance of scoring and it was also difficult for him due to the physical friction of the central defense.
Robert was always short. (EFE/EPA/Georgi Licovski
“I am not going to discover that Lewandowski is a very difficult player. But I think we marked him well and he couldn’t do much“, said Otamendi for this particular situation, that they were able to move forward with Cuti Romerowho returned to be who he was and regain all defensive firmness.
Otamendi, forward
The defender, however, did not stay with what happened. And with his post-match statements, he already set his sights on the round of 16. “Now we are very excited for what is coming, which will be another difficult rival like Australia. We don’t have to give away anything to avoid surprises and keep thinking ahead”, assured the defender, marking as a direct precedent what happened to the Selection in the debut with Arabia. Something that Scaloni also pointed out, in the same tone.
Ota also made it clear that from the round of 16, regardless of the opposing power, a new story begins. “From now on another World Cup begins and, whatever the rival, we have to think about ourselves and try to function as a team as we have shown against Poland”, he assured.
A cry from the heart, from the bottom (ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP)
And in that sense, he took a sheet of the personality of the Selection: “We are strong. This is a team that grows stronger under pressure, This was demonstrated against Mexico, when we had to win and we did. And also now with Poland, which was another final and we never lost focus. Now we have to keep moving forward…”
