Lionel Messi has opened up about his World Cup hopes, and noted that Argentina are hoping to be world champions. He noted that when on form, his national side can be a huge threat to anyone who plays them, and after of course coming so close and missing out during the last World Cup, they want to make sure they do everything in their power to win it this time – and will play each and every game as though it’s a final. He spoke and said: “Our challenge is to be champions. “We know it won’t be easy but I’m certain that Argentina has a squad capable of being a champion in Russia. If the players all believe the same then we can be contenders. “It’s true that the qualifying phase was complicated for us because we took too long to do it. “But the important thing is that we are here in this World Cup and that we give everything to achieve as much as we can. “If Argentina goes out there and plays as we know we can then it will be very difficult to beat us. “We have experienced World Cups before and we know that every rival will come out to try and beat us and play the game as if it is a final. That always makes it more complicated. But we are used to it. “It will be important to start strongly. Iceland did well in their last tournament so the first match will not be comfortable. But these are the ones to win if you don’t want the next matches to be even more complicated.”
