Kun arrives to Doha as FIFA's guest

Sergio has already arrived to Qatar as a special guest of the foremost global football authority, to participate in the FIFA Congress happening today and the World Cup draw that will take place next Friday.

Soon after landing, Kun met with the reporters of the Argentine sports press, and shared his thoughts on the upcoming international competition.

On Argentina's Group:

"We'll have to see the ties and pairings, those will be key. Argentina is always a candidate to take the title, though you'll face the toughest rivals from quarterfinals onwards. But of course – it's not the same if you get to play against teams that don't pose that large of a challenge as that helps build up the morale and if you keep charging on, you'll get to knock-offs with extremely high spirits. If Germany isn't there - the better. But if they share a group with Argentina, it's not that big of a deal since to qualify, you can be either first or second. And you'll get to face them again in the final match."

The past and present of the national squad's "Old Guard"

"We, as the oldest in the squad, always got excessive attention, but Di Maria could always break an opponent's stride. Maybe he didn't have enough confidence, like I did before. After his performance in the Copa America, his style got more flair and you can tell his personality on the field. The affection of the people makes you more comfortable – you stop worrying about what people will say if you choke a pass. That's not what it's like today. After winning Copa America, if one of us stumbles, everyone laughs it off – and the players notice. They know the fans stand with them, and that gives you that little extra to pump yourself up and take it to 11."

On the Russia World Cup:

"The first match in Russia was one of my best games for the national squad. I just had surgery, took every care to arrive in best conditions, scored, and ended the game on the bench. I was in good shape and that's the reality, in top form. I think it was one of the years where I prepared the most, and staying on the sidelines for the second game it all started to go down – the manager would say something before the World Cup and then do something else. To a player like me, in my years in the national squad, I found (Sampaoli's) approach to be quite odd, particularly because of the events before. We were summoned for May 22nd and I arrived the 8th because he called me and said: "Come on over, you'll be the best 9 of the World Cup – come to Argentina." I asked him for some time to talk with my physio, because we were heading for Barcelona and since I was already recovering there, I planned to stay. In the end, I was one of the first to arrive to Argentina. I trained my heart out, and then something upset me. A person, that will go unnamed, warned me that if I didn't train to the level of the rest of the team, that was already quite packed, I wouldn't be going to the World Cup. After that, everything seemed a bit off to me and we were off to a bad start. It wasn't even the manager who said that – someone else did. Luckily, nothing came of it, and I started to train with the team one week before expectations. I said to myself then – 'this guy is going to push me off the World Cup.'