By Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentinian football star Lionel Messi blames the Brazilian pitches for his questionable Copa América performances.
Argentina beat Venezuela on Friday night to progress into the semi-finals of the Copa América, and they’ve managed to get to the final four without Lionel Messi contributing too much.
Argentina lost their opening group game against Colombia 2-0 before drawing with Paraguay 1-1. They needed a win in their final game to go through to the knockout stages and beat Qatar 2-0.
After the game against Venezuela, the star stopped to speak to the many journalists pressing to hear him.
“Yes, it’s been a very level and complicated Cup. There’s more dispute than play. Field grounds are very poor, unfortunately. The ball seems like a rabbit, and it bounces everywhere, it’s difficult to control. It’s a shame that the Americas Cup is being played on such fields. It doesn’t help the play. You get a fastball, you get the first kick, and it’s a bad kick. You can’t drive the ball. However, that’s what we get. We adapted to it. It was a good win,” he said.
Argentina is now preparing to face Brazil in the Américas Cup semi-final match to be held next Tuesday at the Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte. Messi was excited about the game but said it would be a balanced game.
Messi admitted that he had not reached the maximum of his potential in the tournament. He has only scored one goal so far.
“The truth is that this is not my best Americas Cup, which I expected, but, as I said, you can’t play much, like attacking, doing something different, and there are many players at the front, too. However, the important thing is that we won, we have to move on,” he said.