{"id":13362,"date":"2014-04-14T16:18:49","date_gmt":"2014-04-14T16:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=13362"},"modified":"2014-04-14T16:18:49","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T16:18:49","slug":"sabella-messi-is-irreplaceable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/04\/sabella-messi-is-irreplaceable\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabella: Messi is irreplaceable"},"content":{"rendered":"

In ensuring La<\/em>\u00a0Albiceleste<\/em>\u00a0earned qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil\u2122, Alejandro Sabella achieved the first objective set for him when taking on the Argentina job in August 2011. Lying ahead of him now is the even tougher challenge of bringing an end to the two-time world champions\u2019 21-year wait for a major international trophy.<\/p>\n

With just two month remaining before his side steps out against Bosnia -Herzegovina at the Maracana, Sabella was his usual calm and thoughtful self as he spoke at length to FIFA.com<\/strong>. In this the first of a two-part interview, the coach shared his views on the strains and stresses of the job, his contingency plans should Lionel Messi suffer an injury and the selection issues he has to face as Argentina coach.<\/p>\n

FIFA.com<\/strong>: Hand on your heart, are you more or less nervous than you thought you would be about the upcoming FIFA World Cup?
\n<\/strong>Alejandro Sabella:<\/strong> I don\u2019t tend to think too far ahead. I focused on the qualifiers first of all, then on reachying Brazil, then on the last two games against Peru and Uruguay, and then on the friendlies and the Final Draw. It\u2019s hard to give an answer, though I can say that I am getting more and more nervous as the tournament draws closer.<\/p>\n

Do you talk about the World Cup with you family and friends?
\n<\/strong>Not that much. I try to stay off the subject at home and my family help me with that because they know the pressure I\u2019m under. Though you work from home more than you do when you\u2019re coaching a club, they leave you in peace. At weekends, for example, I\u2019m in the living room watching one match after another. I\u2019m really wearing the armchair out! (laughs<\/em>). With my friends it\u2019s more or less the same. They know that I like to relax when I\u2019m at home.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to quote to you a couple of things that people are saying a lot right now, just to gauge the mood in the camp: \u2018Argentina have got an easy group\u2019 and \u2018there are no easy teams at the World Cup\u2019. Which of the two best sums up that mood at the moment?
\n<\/strong>(Pause<\/em>) Well, I\u2019m going to give you a third option, which is in between the two: we are our own biggest enemy. If we\u2019re on top of our game, we can make the group easier than it is. If we\u2019re not 100 percent and as focused as we should be, then every team will make life hard for us and it could become a really tough section.<\/p>\n

How do you feel when you watch your players in action for their clubs?
\n<\/strong>Nervous! Sometimes I have to share matches out with my team because a lot of games are played at the same time. We all think exactly the same thing when we watch them though: that none of them are going to get injured. It\u2019s not as if I get a headache or anything, but I do get worried if I see one of the players go down. If they get up quickly, that\u2019s great. And if they have to go off, we try to find out why as soon as we can. I do suffer a little bit with them. You\u2019re looking for them to be playing well, but the most important thing is that nothing happens to them.<\/p>\n

Is it hard to enjoy games with that kind of tension in the background?
\n<\/strong>I only enjoy watching matches when none of our players are involved (smiles<\/em>).<\/p>\n

The risk of injury is always there and there\u2019s a question that always gets asked: do Argentina have a Plan B for players like Lionel Messi?
\n<\/strong>You always have to have a Plan B. The thing is that we\u2019re talking about top players here. You have to have some kind of list in your head and have some possible replacements in mind. The thing is, there are times when Plan B is pretty similar to Plan A, and there are times when it isn\u2019t. That\u2019s when you have to adapt.<\/p>\n

Have you got one lined up for Messi?
\n<\/strong>We\u2019ve played a few games without Leo, but the fact is that he\u2019s irreplaceable. There\u2019s not a club or national team in the world that could play the same with or without Messi. We rely on him so much that when he\u2019s not there, we notice it. If it did happen, we\u2019d have to see how we\u2019d handle it and look at the match in question. We do have an idea, though. In fact, he wasn\u2019t there when we played Italy in Rome and neither was [Sergio] Aguero and yet we still managed to adapt to the situation. We\u2019re never going to be the same, but we\u2019d do it again if need be.<\/p>\n

What was it like for you when he was recovering from his last injury?
\n<\/strong>Well, it wasn\u2019t as bad as when he started playing again. He was here for a month and I was able to keep a close eye on him. It was when he was back in action that I got all jumpy again.<\/p>\n

Two years ago you told\u00a0<\/strong>FIFA.com\u00a0that you didn\u2019t have a problem with being criticised because it \u201copened your mind\u201d. How do you feel, though, about the criticism that\u2019s been levelled at the Argentina defence, which was the second best in the qualifying competition after all?
\n<\/strong>It doesn\u2019t upset me and it\u2019s understandable me. When you compare the potential we have up front with that of the defence, then the defence is always going to come off worse. I have to analyse every piece of criticism and see which of it I can use to come up with a temporary solution. I can say: \u2018That\u2019s useful. That isn\u2019t,\u201d but I can\u2019t read or listen to everything. I\u2019m just like anyone else and I\u2019ve learned to pay more attention to some opinions and less to others.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you think that some of things said about your team are a bit savage?
\n<\/strong>That\u2019s a very strong word. This is the Argentina team and the same thing happens here at club level. What happens at River or Boca tends to get reported on more than events at other clubs. There\u2019s a whole country behind the national team and everyone\u2019s got an opinion. Those are the rules of the game and I knew them before I came in.<\/p>\n

Some sections of the media have been campaigning for Carlos Tevez to return to the side. How do you assimilate that?
\n<\/strong>In the same way: everyone\u2019s entitled to their opinion. And like I said before, I read, listen and watch and then I draw my own conclusions.<\/p>\n

Is he not putting forward a good case with his form in Italy?
\n<\/strong>I don\u2019t like talking about the players who aren\u2019t in the squad. I think it\u2019s better for everyone that way. That goes for Tevez and for anyone else, though I understand why they\u2019re talking about him more than others.<\/p>\n

What are the fans in the street asking from you?
\n<\/strong>I don\u2019t go out much and when I do I see the passion of the Argentinian people, who think we\u2019ve got it won already. I grew up hearing how we were the best in the world, even when we hadn\u2019t won anything. But that\u2019s normal. it\u2019s just the way we are. Sometimes we think we are better than we actually are and then reality brings us back down to Earth. It\u2019s no good being over-confident. You have to work hard and keep your feet on the ground.<\/p>\n

What are you more scared of: people getting carried away or the team failing at the World Cup?
\n<\/strong>The possibility of failure, obviously. That said, the danger with getting carried away is that you can lose sight of things, which can cause you to fail or to go only so far and to be seen by some as a failure and by others as a success.<\/p>\n

Are you scared of success?
\n<\/strong>Success can be dangerous. You have to keep your feet on the ground. I\u2019ve always tried to keep my cool in defeat and stay humble in victory. Obviously it\u2019s better to be successful and learn how to handle it than to have to deal with failure.<\/p>\n

Have you stopped to think at all about the best possible scenario?
\n<\/strong>I should do, but I don\u2019t think I have. Maybe there\u2019s been the odd time when I\u2019ve thought about us being in the Final, but it\u2019s only been for a few seconds. I\u2019d say I\u2019ve hardly thought about it at all. The fact of the matter is that my mind has to be on other things right now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: Fifa.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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