The head coach of the Moscow “Torpedo” Andrey Talalaev praised the game of the midfielder of the Argentine national team Angel Di Maria in the final match of the 2022 World Cup with France (3:3, 4:2 pen.).
“I’m not ready to evaluate Di Maria’s game throughout the tournament. But the way he came out in the final game deserves not only respect, but also recognition. In my opinion, before he was replaced, he was the brightest player on the field. The French focused on closing the left flank, where the poorly defended Mbappé plays. In this regard, the defensive midfielders were forced to help more in defense, and Griezmann had to take the defensive midfielder position. As a result, the zone on the right was vacated, where Kunde was left alone, since Dembélé is not very strong in defense either.
The Argentines put pressure points on both the right and the left, something that other rivals had not done before. In my opinion, Scaloni’s decision baffled the French and gave us a first half where Argentina had an overwhelming advantage. And the merit of this goes to Di María, because he was specific in his actions, he received many balls, he gave the rival great difficulties, he entered the penalty area dribbling and created a penalty. France was forced to use one or even two players for their guardianship in order to secure the support zone. After Di Maria left, the hands of the French were untied. They had nowhere to retreat, ”Talalaev said in a personal conversation with Sovetsky Sport correspondent Daria Savinova.
