Messi Says: They Controlled the Ball While We Were Running

After a hard-fought victory in the FIFA World Cup 2026 match on Saturday morning, captain Lionel Messi admitted there was a lack of coordination in their play. Kathmandu, June 20 – Argentina’s captain Messi acknowledged that his team was unable to effectively pressure Cape Verde.

Following the tough win in the Saturday morning game, Messi pointed out the challenge in team coordination. “I think we couldn’t keep effective pressure on them. At times, the distance between our players was too wide. When we tried to progress from the defensive pivot, the gap for the center-backs was too large, which slightly disrupted our coordination,” he explained.

Messi revealed that due to the lack of synchronization among players, Cape Verde managed to maintain ball possession. He added, “They always had one more player because we couldn’t coordinate our players accordingly. So they kept control of the ball while we were running after it. We simply couldn’t apply pressure on them the right way.”