Okocha Has His Say On MOTM Mbappe, Messi's Future With Argentina National Team

Published: June 30, 2018

In probably the game of the World Cup so far, France defeated Argentina 4-3 in a classic in Kazan on Saturday afternoon, with PSG wonderkid Kylian Mbappe netting a brace for the Europeans.

The Blues number ten won a penalty off Marcos Rojo which Antoine Griezmann converted to open the scoring in the 13th minute and was rightly named the official Man of the Match on the back of his impressive display.

In his post-match analysis on SuperSport, retired Nigeria international Austin Okocha said : ''He is quick,the control with the ball as well is unbelievable. France was all about Mbappe today and he gave them what they needed.''

Argentina were poor in the group stages but somehow managed to advance to the round of sixteen ahead of Nigeria, Okocha has suggested that Lionel Messi would call time on his international career, adding that the Barcelona superstar did not get help from his teammates.

''I think they will be delighted going home because the torture is over, it was that bad. If one of the best players in the world cannot save you, who is going to save you?

''It shows football is a team game, it's teamwork, limited to what an individual can offer you and Messi has offered everything.

''I believe that was the reason why he retired from the national team, and came back and had another go.

''I won't be surprised if he retires again after this World Cup, they didn't really help him. They didn't do enough to go the next stage.''

The former PSG star concluded by saying that France showed great character to come back from a goal down and win by four goals to three.

''It's a sign of maturity, we were worried about how they will react if they are being tested, they reacted positively and went on to score three more goals.

''They never panicked, never looked as if they were bothered about the scoreline, they knew what their game plan was, they kept playing, kept pushing players forward.

''For me after going 2-1 down I would have thought they would start playing the ball to Giroud but they kept passing it from behind.....''

Angel Di Maria, Gabriel Mercado and Sergio Aguero wrote their names on the score-sheet for Argentina, while Benjamin Pavard made it 2-2 with a sensational strike in the 57th minute.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : fifa.com