Argentina coach Edgardo Bauza has insisted that he doesn’t hold concerns over whether his team will make it to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
A belittling 3-0 defeat at the feet of Brazil on Thursday leaves Argentina in sixth place within the South American standings, having won just four out of their 11 encounters so far.
Therefore Messi and co are facing a tough set of fixtures in their bid to reach Russia having fell short up to this point, but Bauza is confident in his side’s quality and determination.
Bauza said, as reported by Goal: “I never put qualifying for Russia 2018 in doubt. The points we’ve lost hurt but we still depend on ourselves. The group is strong and that gives us confidence. We’ve lost points that we didn’t think we would and it’s normal that criticism has come out.
“Hopefully in San Juan the people can spread the importance that this shirt has. We haven’t had a regularity in our play. The players have to impose the ability they have. The players know their condition and they know what they can do. I trust that.”
Argentina face Colombia on Tuesday and defeat there would leave them a monumental task to secure one of the four automatic qualification spots for the World Cup finals.
If they finish in their current position then they would not make it to Russia as only the fifth place team get to compete in an inter-confederation play-off.
Chile are currently occupying that position while Ecuador are one place above them but level on points. Colombia are two points ahead of Argentina in third place.
Argentina have only won one out of five games since losing the Copa America to Chile, on penalties.
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