Video of the incident circulating on social media shows Enzo Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez looking upset as they leave the locker room. Martinez was shown a yellow card and sent off just before half-time for what appeared to be an injury, while Fernandes was sent off three minutes into stoppage time in the second half.
But Mr. Paredes didn’t engage in any conspiracy. “Spain were better than us in the final. They are the rightful winners of the World Cup,” he said after playing for Boca Juniors against O’Higgins in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana first round, in a quote translated from Spanish to English by AS.
“We don’t care about these theories. If that’s what I’m hearing, I can’t help but go crazy. Everything that was said before, during and after the World Cup. We had a great tournament. We have to enjoy what we achieved in the last eight years. It was a spectacular process. As time goes on, certainly we will fall, because it’s something incredible.”
“For a lot of people, it’s going to be a decision to continue or not. It’s been a great process. It’s going to be very difficult to maintain this level and keep the group functioning like this. You have to think, you have to understand the situation, you have to talk to the coach. You have to make the decision calmly. I don’t know if I’m going to continue or not,” he told ESPN.
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“I think it’s going to be a long process to get over what we went through. We achieved a lot, but the pain of losing in the final will last for a long time, because it was so close again. But we have to enjoy it because it’s not easy to maintain the level we had and achieve what we did. Even though we lost in the final, I think it was a World Cup where people could see themselves reflected. That’s very happy for us.”
Claudio Tapia, president of the Argentine Football Association, also dismissed any talk of a conspiracy. In a lengthy statement shared on social media, he said: “In sport, you also learn by accepting defeat with the same grace as you celebrate victory.
He added: “We compete with grit, passion and heart. We give our all in every training session and every match. We also represent the entire Americas with great pride. We compete with every pitch in the world. “We will protect our colors, our flag and our country. That is why we should not be swayed by lies and conspiracies whose sole purpose is to destabilize and turn our backs on those who have contributed so much to our football.”
