Messi sees Brazil and Spain “very well” despite recent defeats

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Argentine playmaker Lionel Messi praised Brazil and Spain, qualified for the round of 16, and said that the two teams are strong candidates for the World Cup title, despite being defeated in the last match of the group stage.

“We watched all the World Cup games we could. As we said at the beginning, even with the defeat to Cameroon, Brazil is doing very well. It remains one of the big favorites. There are also France, Spain, although they lost the last game for Japan”, evaluated Messi in the mixed zone after the victory of his selection by 2 to 1, on Saturday (3), over Australia, for the round of 16 of the Cup, with his goal, which opened the scoring.

France plays its round of 16 duel against Poland this Sunday (4), while Brazil will face South Korea on Monday (5) and Spain will face Morocco on Tuesday (6).

The defeat by the Cameroonians did not affect Brazil, who had already qualified and finished at the top of their group. In the case of Spain, the setback put them second in the group.

Messi highlighted the virtues of the Spanish team led by Luis Enrique Martínez, who was his coach at Barcelona. “It is a team that plays very well, that is very clear in what it is doing, that controls possession of the ball for a long time in the game,” he said.

The striker also admitted that he did not expect Germany to be eliminated in the group stage.

“I was surprised. They had a lot of important players, a young team. Germany are always among the best and it’s surprising that again, in a World Cup, they are left out in the first round. This is the World Cup, it shows how difficult the tournament is and how balanced it is. It doesn’t matter the name of the selection anymore, but what you see on the field”, said the Argentine star.

After the victory over the Australians, Argentina will face the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, next Friday, at the Lusail stadium.

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