Former France defender Marcel Desailly feels Argentina are capable of giving you goosebumps and believes they are dedicated to getting the most out of Lionel Messi despite his advancing years.
Desailly also sees little problem with Cristiano Ronaldo starting for Portugal, instead pointing out that the rest of the side are quality players who have not yet clicked into gear.
Indeed, Desailly believes that Portugal are just behind France in the running to become world champions in North America this summer.
Better players
During an exclusive conversation with sportscasting.com, Desailly said: “If you look at the Portuguese squad, honestly you have to say that it is a better group of players than Argentina.
“It’s not about Cristiano or Messi. Portugal has better players.
“We haven’t seen the performances from them yet, we haven’t seen the collective unity of their players.
“Players like Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha and [Rúben] Neves, they want to play. They beat Uzbekistan and have drawn twice. You can see their desire – they’re trying to win.
“They want to perform, but they are playing to put them on a plate for Ronaldo. They’re playing for him to score.
“And you know Cristiano – if you give him the chance, he will be clinical. So the quality is higher for me in this Portuguese team.”
Collective ability
The 57-year-old continued: “But Argentina, they give you goosebumps, they have shown a great collective ability.
“They are all ready to die on the pitch, from Lautaro Martínez, who has accepted and put his ego to one side and accepted that he has to run so that Messi can do his thing, and win again for his country.
“The Argentina philosophy is exactly like the Barcelona philosophy: everybody is playing for Messi.
“The passing, the interceptions, the idea, the concept… because they know that with Messi, and by letting Messi do what he does best, they have already tasted what it’s like to win the biggest prizes in football.”
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Spectacular player
Desailly added: “They won a World Cup by playing to the strengths of Messi. Why change it when you have such a spectacular player?
“They have less quality [than Portugal], but they are dedicated like dogs. They are ready to die.
“So don’t compare Cristiano to Messi again. I don’t like this comparison.
“It’s just that Argentina is far more advanced collectively to support their main player.”
Talk about Bruno
The former Chelsea centre-back also feels the time has come to accept Fernandes as the main man for Portugal, noting: “Portugal’s problem is not Cristiano. He’s the striker.
“It happens that the team… they should get the ball inside, they should get the ball into Bruno Fernandes.
“Give the ball to Bruno and let him play, then you will see that Cristiano is not the problem in this Portugal team.
“Portugal have [Gonçalo] Ramos on the bench, but I’m not sure he could play for 90 minutes and perform at the same level as Cristiano.
“Cristiano attracts the defence because of who he is and his reputation. Portugal must also find opportunities around him.
“You can never say that Cristiano is a problem, even at 41 years old.
“I believe that Portugal’s biggest problem is a collective unity that is not yet in the system.”
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Great momentum
Desailly concluded: “They’ve shown great moments, great momentum, but they haven’t done it nearly enough over a full 90 minutes.
“Once they get it… they could be very, very dangerous. They just have to qualify.
“Once they find the chemistry, Portugal, along with France, would be my favourites to win this World Cup, even though France and Argentina are showing better skills.
“There are still four matches to go after this one to be able to be the world champion: round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final. So four matches.
“Don’t write off Portugal and start writing the obituaries for Cristiano just yet.”
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Michael Davey