When you play for Argentina, the spotlight will always fall on you sooner or later. Yet at this particular FIFA World Cup™, the men who form the Albiceleste rearguard are going to find themselves under more scrutiny than would usually be the case.
knows that only too well. Now 27, the central defender is playing some of the best football of his career, excelling with Benfica last season and cementing his place in the national side under Alejandro Sabella. Buoyed by his excellent form, he is unEzequiel Garay concerned about having his every move analysed and receiving the occasional piece of criticism.
“Obviously we’re aware of all that,” the serene Garay told on the eve of his side’s Brazil 2014 debut against Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We know that in midfield and up front we’ve got some great players who can change the course of games at any given time. That makes it a tremendous challenge for us defenders, but that’s not because we’re not good enough but because our team-mates further forward are so good.”knows that only too well. Now 27, the central defender is playing some of the best football of his career, excelling with Benfica last season and cementing his place in the national side under Alejandro Sabella. Buoyed by his excellent form, he is unEzequiel Garay concerned about having his every move analysed and receiving the occasional piece of criticism.
Garay is entitled to regard some of the criticism that has come the defence’s way as unjustified, especially with Argentina having conceded only 15 goals in their 16 Brazil 2014 qualifying matches, the second-best defensive record in the CONMEBOL Zone.
Discussing the subject with the same elegance he displays on the pitch, Garay said: “We defenders need to keep calm. We improved an awful lot during the course of the qualifiers and we ended it as a pretty solid unit. And obviously if we’re going to win games then we need to do our job pretty well.”