Mascherano Reacts to Argentina’s 4:2 Loss to Nigeria

Argentine defender, Javier Mascherano has blamed Argentina’s 4:2 loss to Nigeria on the poor performance of the Argies in the second half. The player, who was also criticized for his poor play during the friendly at the Krasnodar Stadium, Russia on Tuesday, explained that his team failed to match up the physical strength of the Super Eagles in the second half, hence, their loss. The Eagles were in their best form yet, as they came from 2 goals behind to dominate Les Albiceleste 4:2. Mascherano told Tycsports.com “We did well in the first half, but in the second half there was no intensity in our game, they (Super Eagles) are a very strong team and were physically superior. They just passed us over in the second half. We disconnected from the game and it was difficult to come back into the game after their goals.” The Barcelona defender also added, “It’s better to lose this way before we get to the World Cup, and the Nigerian team are obviously one of the most physical sides we have faced in a while. We dominated the first half but they scored from their only shot on target before the half time break. Their second goal was well taken by the Arsenal lad (Iwobi) then the fourth goal by same player killed the game off.” He continued, “He (Iwobi) took his goals really well, maybe we should have defended better but, the quality of the second strike from the edge ‎of the box makes me think otherwise. Congratulations to Nigeria, they deserve to win.”   Featured image credit: Tribuna.com

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This article was first published on 16th November 2017 and updated on November 17th, 2017 at 10:33 pm

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