BUY UZBEKISTAN 2024 TICKETS
When it comes to South American mainstays of the FIFA Futsal World Cup™, past champions Argentina and Brazil always come to mind first. One would, however, be remiss to forget Paraguay.
Uzbekistan 2024 will, indeed, be La Albirroja’s sixth successive participation and eighth overall. Moreover, Paraguay are always a good bet to reach the knockout phase, as they did in the previous four editions.
Central to their chances of doing so again will be Arnaldo Baez, who took time after a training session to talk about scoring at Lithuania 2021, Paraguay’s group-stage opponents in Central Asia and his admiration for Spain superstar Adolfito.
You scored your first World Cup goal in the 4-1 win over Angola three years ago. What was that feeling like?
Arnaldo Baez: Scoring a goal in a World Cup is the most special feeling ever. Representing your country in a World Cup is already a very big motivation and pleasure. Scoring in it is something you can’t explain, and I just hope to be able to score more in this upcoming World Cup.
What went through your mind when the ball entered the net?
So many things went through my mind, so many moments, all the time we spent preparing for that World Cup because it was so hard. Also, all the effort I had made personally in my career to get to that point made it all worth it. What goes through your mind are all the moments and all the feelings you’ve had before the World Cup.
How is preparation for Uzbekistan 2024 coming along?
I would say that it is going quite well, considering it has been difficult period for us in futsal recently. We’re coming off a very tough qualifying campaign in which we didn’t leave the best image, but were still able to qualify for the World Cup. We are now working on all those little details so that we deliver a much better display in the World Cup.
It sounds like you all had hopes of doing better at the Copa America?
That’s exactly it. In the previous Copa America we made it to the final and lost to Argentina, but in this case, playing at home again, we finished fourth and did not have a very good campaign. We are working and preparing very hard to correct all the negatives and compete in the best way possible at the World Cup.
What are your thoughts on your group opponents Uzbekistan, Netherlands and Costa Rica?
They’re all very tough opponents, but also ones we don’t know that well. Uzbekistan are obviously the hosts, Netherlands are good, and Costa Rica are a physical team that are hard to play against. We are preparing ourselves because we know it will be a tough group, but we also believe we can finish first in it. We are very focused on that and covering every small detail to be able to achieve that objective.
Do you like the fact that you will face the host nation?
It’s really no problem for me. If anything it adds extra motivation against the home team with their fans. Personally I am totally fine with it and looking forward to playing against the hosts.
What do Paraguay need to do to go far in a World Cup?
I think what happened to us in the last World Cup is that in the last 16 against Argentina, we played our best first half of the World Cup, but when Argentina scored their first goal, we went downhill. In this instance, we need to do better managing the feelings and swings that come in games. If we are able to regroup when we face trouble, we’ll have a much better World Cup.
Who are your futsal idols?
I’m not one to necessarily have idols, but a player I have admiration for is Adolfito, who plays for Barcelona. He is a star in every sense. He’s incredible.
Are there any players or teams you’re excited about possibly facing?
All players have the hope of facing the best players in our sport, but right now we are just preparing to face our group opponents because they are all good teams. Whoever we end up facing, we’ll prepare for that and try to compete in the best way.
Is there a lot of excitement among your team-mates at traveling to such a faraway destination like Uzbekistan for a World Cup?
We were talking about that among ourselves earlier today actually and saying, ‘This is really far to travel for a World Cup!’ We know it’s going to be a lot of hours of traveling, but I’m very curious to see what is there in the country and how it is. It is also a part of the world in which futsal is growing and they are becoming very competitive. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, they have been doing a very good job, so we’ll see how it goes.
source
کلاس یوس