Ian Wright has major doubts over Argentina’s hopes of winning the World Cup again after watching the defending champions pushed to the brink by Cape Verde.
In a World Cup clash for the ages, the tiny archipelagic country pushed one of the giants of world football all the way in an exhilarating last 32 clash in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Argentina took an early lead with Lionel Messi scoring his seventh of the competition before Deroy Durate levelled on the hour, sending the game to extra time.
Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez fired Argentina back in front before Sidny Cabral curled home perhaps the goal of the competition to send Cape Verdeans and neutrals into delirium.
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Argentina scored again in the second period of extra time with Cristian Romero’s header coming off Diney Borges – enough to send them through to the last 16.
Cape Verde had already held Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia to draws and matched Argentina going forward in what will go down as one of the best underdog stories in World Cup history.
La Albiceleste won the competition four years ago in Qatar and have been firmly among the favourites to lift the trophy again this summer.
But former Arsenal and England striker Wright, who had Argentina as the one team who could possibly beat France, now believes the performance against Cape Verde exposed major weaknesses in the defending champions.
‘What Cape Verde has shown is that they [Argentina] are fallible,’ Wright told ITV1.
‘We know they are great, that they can dig in and that they are warriors. They have the best player in the world but what I would be looking at is they are there to be taken.
‘They are there to be beaten. If you can give the same kind of endeavour we saw Cape Verde give, but you have more quality in the final third, then Argentina are there to be beaten.
‘I think in the wide areas they are very weak. you can get at them in those areas.’
Wright added Argentina were lucky to have 10 men on the pitch for extra-time with Romero, directly involved in the winner, perhaps lucky to not have been shown two yellow cards.
‘I think Romero was very fortunate, he should have been booked in the first half without a doubt.
‘He got booked in the latter stages so he was lucky to be on the pitch and he ended up scoring one of the goals.’
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