An international figure's dart to Dibu Martínez: “No one can underestimate Mexico”

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is seven months away and with some controversies the weather starts to ignite. In this case it was André-Pierre Gignac's response to Emiliano Martínez, who celebrated that in the draw Argentina won Mexico as a rival in Group C. The French striker has a great sense of belonging to the North American country, since for seven years he has played in the Liga MX Tigres, became nationalized and his youngest son was born in the Aztec land.

“Easy, easy”, exclaimed Dibu when he learned that the Tri was going to share an area with Albiceleste and celebrated it with his son in a video that went viral, like many of the content that the goalkeeper uploads on his Instagram account. The native of Mar del Plata, trained in Independiente, exploded with his popularity in the Copa América held in Brazil, where Argentina was champion. Martínez saved three penalties in the definition against Colombia, but was marked with his provocations against coffee growers.

The “mirá como te como te como” was adopted by the fans and the phrase is already installed in the Argentine collective imagination. With a strong personality, the goalkeeper continued his improvisations on and off the court, either with his good performances or celebrating each triumph as if it were a final. His idyll with people grew and he became one of the leaders of the process led by coach Lionel Scaloni.

But in Mexico his attitude in the draw was not welcomed and Gignac, although he did not mention it, responded to Martínez for his video. For the Frenchman, Argentina will not have it easy with the selection led by Gerardo Martino. “Mexico, when it's in a competition, wanting to have that shirt on, anything can happen.”

“We saw it against Germany. It doesn't matter that the world champion 'always comes out in the first round... '. That's not true. Not France, I hope it will not leave the group stage, but no one can underestimate Mexico. No one. And how good they do it, to have surprises,” he said in an interview with Telemundo.

“Let them do it. I do believe in Mexico in official competitions because that shirt weighs. In competitions, Mexican pride comes out and I like that,” he said with a defiant tone. In Mexico they believe that the Argentine team will travel to Qatar with great confidence in order to pass the first round without problems.

To sustain his stance, the Frenchman recalled that his team brought a good team to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and was eliminated in the first round. “I had Mexico in South Africa and we knew it wasn't going to be easy. We had Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, Frank Ribery. We had amazing players.”

In the last World Cup played in Russia in 2018, the Mexican national team struck the blow by beating Germany, then world champion, in their first match. While against Argentina his two most recent records were albicelestial triumphs, both in instances of the round of 16. In Germany 2006 it was a match that was defined in the extra time with a goal from Maxi Rodríguez. Then, in South Africa 2010, he finished 3-1 in favor of the team led by the remembered Diego Armando Maradona.

Gignac, for his part, after being champion with Olympique de Marseille, emigrated to Mexico in 2015 to play in Tigres and there they won three leagues and three champions champions trophies and one concacaf league in 2020, which allowed them to play in the Club World Cup in which they beat Palmeiras with a goal from the Frenchman and in the final they lost to the minimum against Bayern Munich.

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