Rodrigo Bentancur spoke exclusively with ESPN Uruguay ahead of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, assessing the potential of the Uruguayan National Team’s midfield and highlighting ‘that winning the World Cup would be the most beautiful thing in the world.’
The Tottenham footballer also commented on the jokes with his teammate, the South Korean Son Heung-Min, whom he will face on the first date of Group H in Qatar, and highlighted how much it helped him to have started his career at Boca Juniors.
Here are the best quotes from the interview with ESPN:
“THE TEAM THAT ARRIVES BEST AS A GROUP WILL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE”
1:03
Exclusively with ESPN, the Uruguayan National Team player commented on his expectations for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
“What do you have to do to be world champion? To work. Then trust the team and the individuals as well, but whoever arrives the best as a team and as a group is going to make the difference and we’re going for that”.
«In my case, obviously I want to prepare in the best way for the World Cup, but I’m giving my best for my club, now I’m defending the Tottenham shirt and I have to give 100%».
“I tell the Uruguayan fans to stay calm, that we are going to do our best to be able to win the World Cup with this National Team, which would be the most beautiful thing in the world.”
THE VALUE OF THE MIDFIELD IN THE PRESENT OF THE URUGUAYAN NATIONAL TEAM
1:02
The Uruguayan soccer player from Tottenham also told ESPN what it would be like to share a World Cup with former teammates from the 2017 U-20 team.
“I think that Fede Valverde, Matías Vecino, Lucas Torreira and I are all in a great moment, and now the arrival of Diego Alonso has given us a much greater role in midfield. We like that a lot and we are enjoying it a lot”.
“It will also be incredible to play a Senior World Cup with Valverde, Nicolás De La Cruz, Matías Viña or Mathías Olivera, with whom we have played together since the U-20s (disputing the category World Cup in South Korea 2017). It’s a nice band and we have to be at this moment too, and being able to enjoy it together is incredible, they are great friends”.
THE COMPLICITY WITH SON IN THE WORLD CUP PREVIEW
0:25
Exclusively with ESPN, the Uruguayan player commented on his relationship with the South Korean soccer player, a Tottenham teammate whom he will face in Group H of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Are there jokes with Son, a teammate at Tottenham, ahead of Uruguay’s debut in Qatar 2022 on November 24 against South Korea in Group H? “We always mess around a bit, he is a crack as a player and as a person. I always tell him that a week before I’m going to kick him so he can get to the World Cup half lame, but fine. I am honored to have him as a partner and he is a great person.”
HIS MEMORIES OF HIS TIME IN BOCA JUNIORS
0:26
The Uruguayan Tottenham midfielder pointed out on ESPN what his time at Xeneize left him.
“What did my stage in Boca leave me? Lots of memories, he left me with great colleagues like Fernando Gago, Cata Díaz, Pablo Pérez, Cristian Pavón, I have had very great friendships. The Boca World is incredible, it has one of the best fans in the world, and having lived and starting my career in that club has been unique”.