JORGE SAMPAOLI
You are Argentina’s third coach since the World Cup four years ago. Has your work ended up being a race against time?
Time is what it is and you just have to adapt to it. I’ve always said that in the last few friendlies we’ve played since qualifying for the World Cup, the result wouldn’t be the be-all and end-all, although a good result would have helped consolidate our idea of play. Precisely because we’ve had so little time to work together we’ve had to dedicate a big part of every friendly to observing different players.
What are the roles of Sergio Aguero, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain?
In Higuain’s case, there isn’t anything about his game that I don’t already know about. If he can play at the same level he is showing in training and with Juventus then I think he’s going to give our attack a lot of force. With Dybala, when we first called him up we did so because we considered him a top player. But over time and throughout our time working with him, either we didn’t know how best to use him, unlike at his club, or he didn’t adapt to our idea of play. He wasn’t in the last squad for the games against Italy and Spain because we wanted to have a look at other players to see if they could adapt to his position. I think Aguero is playing really well at the moment. For me the best Sergio is the one that came out of Independiente, and I would like him to be like that.
How do you line up a team so that it works well around Lionel Messi?
It’s not easy because we don’t have a lot of time together, so we have to work with the base of the squad. At the back, we were previously working with a line of three, but now we are trying two centre-backs and two full-backs with the latter pushing further forward in order to have better options in attack, as well as to strengthen us defensively. Because we no longer need to rely on a rigid back three, we will now have four defenders, which will allow us greater flexibility. However, we still have work to do to ensure that no cracks appear in that back line. Leo is really involved in the World Cup and collaborates a lot. Even though he didn’t play in the game against Spain he popped into the changing rooms to give his team-mates a bit of encouragement. He collaborates a lot in everything. And everything that he does brings him closer to his goal, and that’s really what makes him happy.
Is it possible to teach Messi anything?
No, it’s impossible to teach Messi anything. We’re at the point where Leo is untouchable. We have to try to understand him and generate play in training where he feels most comfortable. Aside from this, we have to also build a team that is related to this concept. Players of his quality only appear once in a blue moon and so it’s a learning curve for everyone. Furthermore, he really helps us by contributing through his intuition of how he reads the game because his vision is much more developed than ours.
How can you ensure Messi feels good in the team knowing that this could be his last World Cup at his peak level?
I believe that beyond what everyone knows, Leo has now reached a stage of maturity. Today he holds great responsibility for what he can do for the rest of the team. When he last trained with us it was incredible because he was exhausted when he arrived, but this only empowered everyone else.