New Delhi: Argentina and Barcelona genius Lionel Messi has outlined his immediate and future goals for his country as they prepare to resume their quest for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Los Albicelestes will host Venezuela this Saturday for Round 11 of the punishing CONMEBOL qualifying section, and Messi wants the team to secure all three points in what will be Diego Maradona’s competitive debut in the dugout following two successful friendlies.
"We have a lot of desire to win this game. We want the three points firstly for Argentina, and also for Maradona, who deserves a win on his first official game as our coach. We hope it will be a fiesta," he told journalists prior to Thursday’s training session.
"Diego is very calm but he is also excited. He has a lot of faith in this group of players and that gives us tranquillity. In this team, we do not have any doubts that we will be at the World Cup. We talk amongst ourselves about how good it would be if we were to win the World Cup," he said.
Messi continued to show his nonchalant attitude towards issues that do not directly involve his performance, including the growing discussion about whether or not he will inherit the No. 10 jersey from Juan Roman Riquelme, and a possible suspension in the next game if he picks up another yellow card this weekend.
"It (the yellow card) does not worry me because I play as a forward and it will be difficult to pick up another booking," he said.
"I do not know if I will be wearing the No. 10 jersey, but it does not bother me much either. What I want is to play and perform well for the national team. The issue of numbers is less important."
Maradona has said that he is uncertain himself as to who will be allocated the famous number but he admitted that it will be between Messi and Independiente's attacking midfielder, Daniel Montenegro.
After this weekend, Argentina will travel to La Paz to take on Bolivia on Wednesday.
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