French World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit has accused Rodri of 'arrogance' and 'disrespect' after the midfielder appeared to criticise Cape Verde's tactical approach against Spain. Cape Verde pulled off one of the biggest shocks in recent World Cup memory as they held European champions Spain to a goalless draw in their opening Group H match on Monday.
Veteran goalkeeper Vozinha, 40, stole the headlines with a heroic performance between the sticks for the tournament debutants, recording seven saves to keep out Luis de la Fuente's all-star attack in Atlanta. Arguably Spain's best chance fell to Ferran Torres towards the end of the first half, but the Barcelona forward was unable to capitalise, hammering the ball against the crossbar from six yards out.
With 65 places separating the two teams in the FIFA rankings before kick-off, it's hardly surprising that Cape Verde players and fans broke into feverous celebration as referee Adham Makhadmeh blew his whistle to signal full-time. De la Fuente's squad looked frustrated and short of ideas, meanwhile, with the disappointing result ramping up the pressure ahead of La Roja's next clash with Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
'It wasn't meant to be. There's little to complain about,' Spain and Manchester City midfielder Rodri said in his post-match interview with La 1. 'We knew it was a game that required patience. They sat back and they dropped back very quickly. We couldn't put it in. We created chances, but couldn't finish. The positive thing is that they barely created anything against us. We need to improve our finishing.'
On Cape Verde's tactics, Rodri, Spain's captain, said: 'That's how they play. They don't get past midfield. It's a matter of improving our finishing.' Unsurprisingly, Rodri's comments were met with a less-than-sympathetic reaction from those who had been cheering on Monday's massive underdogs Cape Verde.
According to ex-France, Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Petit, Rodri – the 2024 Ballon d'Or winner – should 'look at himself in the mirror' before picking apart the tactics of the opposition. 'I think it's arrogant,' Petit said on talkSPORT. 'I don't expect Cape Verde to get the position of the ball and to create on many occasions against Spain. Spain is one of the best teams in the world. The way he said that, this is disrespectful for Cape Verde and I think you should look at yourself in the mirror because you should have done better and adapted to win that game. You had some occasions to score, you didn't, and I think you have to put credit on the Cape Verde players because they defended like lions on the pitch.'
Petit – who lifted the World Cup with France in 1998 – went on: 'If you don't like their style of play, it's up to you to do enough to win that game. I don't like those criticisms when you meet opponents that are not at the same level. At the end you share the points and you think, "Yeah, they were too defensive", I don't like it at all.'
Petit believes Cape Verde's resolute performance is yet more evidence that the so-called smaller teams have 'improved a lot' and the gap is nowhere near what it was during his playing days. 'The gap is not the same that it used to be before so they have to realise that even small teams have improved a lot, individually and collectively,' he explained. 'Nowadays, those guys prepare the same way physically so at the end of the day, the difference can be made technically, on the creativity as well. You can see that those teams that Rodri is talking about, they have unity. They don't have great, great players but the fact that they're all working for each other makes it very difficult for the opponents.'
Petit has been largely underwhelmed by the standard on show thus far at the World Cup. However, the Frenchman is confident there will be plenty of 'surprises' around the corner and was particularly encouraged by Morocco's first-half display in the side's 1-1 draw with Brazil. 'I was not impressed so far by the World Cup but there is one team that impressed me a lot and that was Morocco for the first 30 minutes,' he added. 'I thought, "Oh, be careful!", so I'm very curious about what will happen tonight between France and Senegal because Senegal as well, they're a very good team. I think we're probably going to have some surprises.'
