Interview by Montevideo's El Pais

28-05-2002

In an interview by Montevideo's El Pais Alvaro Recoba starts talking about Inter.
"I haven't played my best in the friendly match in Washington, I was still psychologically hurt for not winning the scudetto. I wasn't ready to play a friendly match, because of my mood."

Losing the scudetto with Inter, has it influenced you in any way?
"This defeat has made me very upset. We had that life time opportunity there in front of us, and we lost it...It would have been different if we were followers and had the possibility of winning, but we practically had the scudetto in our hands and we let it go. This has to be added to the fact that Inter hadn't won a scudetto for 13 years, and we had the chance to do so, therefore it hurts even more. But this is all part of the past. I apologized to President Moratti and told him to do whatever he wanted with me, and luckily he kept me."

Your national team is very offensive, and for this strikers need the ball up front, will it be your task of giving them the opportunity to score?
"Does not depend just on myself. Our offensive team is due to that we have many players that play around the world for major clubs. However, like head coach Pua always says: We cannot fall back. We must take a risk."

This team looks like head coach Pua?
"Yes, the squad is full of ambition. We must attack and this could allow us to leave the tournament after two matches, but the most important thing is trying something new and not like how everybody is use of watching Uruguay."

Who do you believe will win the world cup?
"Uruguay, we are very strange, although our objective is to pass the first round, we'll just wait and see what will happen."

A strange team?
"Yes, we have played excellent matches like the one against Brazil and Australia. But if I have to choose a world cup favorite, I would say Argentina, they have outstanding players."

What about France?
"Also, because they have the same squad as they did in France 98’ and in the European Championship."