Club teammate taunts Ryan after mistake
IT was the moment Mat Ryan will never forget, the whole of Argentina celebrated and that revealed the true colours of his so-called club teammate.
Ryan’s mistake in the 57th minute gave Argentina a 2-0 lead.
Julian Alvarez pounced on an errant touch from the Socceroos captain as he was looking to avoid pumping the ball long from the danger area.
“It hurts a lot,” Ryan said. “It’s hard, it’s tough. You feel an array of negative emotions.
“You’ve just got to keep bouncing back. That’s life’s way of throwing your harshest lessons.”
He revealed it was a clear tactic from the Socceroos coaching staff to not belt the ball downfield against the Argentines, knowing ageing king Lionel Messi would not press the Australian backline.
The tactic worked well in the first half, but the South Americans made an adjustment at halftime, with Alvarez leading a much more aggressive approach.
Ryan was all class in fronting up and discussing his disappointing moment.
The same could not be said of a teammate at FC Copenhagen, Kamil Grabara. As soon as Ryan committed the error, Grabara tweeted: “Must have been politics, for sure.”
The tweet is in reference to reports Copenhagen gave Grabara back his starting spot, relegating Ryan to the bench, after overcoming an injury because the Pole is a preferred option due to his transfer worth being greater than the Australian.
The petty tweet filtered through to Ryan post-game. “Not surprised, really. His opinion doesn’t really concern me,” he said, albeit with a look of thunder across his face.
The response from the Socceroos towards him was in stark contrast to that of Grabara.
“They were consoling me on the pitch, reminding me of what I’ve done through the campaign,” he said. “(We have) got a support network in there, got each other’s backs.”
The mistake did not prompt Ryan to crumble over the last 40 minutes of the dramatic round of 16 encounter against Argentina. Late on, he made a huge save to help keep a 2-2 draw a possibility.