Montella speaks out after Paraguay defeat: 'We did everything, but football has no justice'

The National Football Team bid an early farewell to the tournament following a 1-0 defeat against Paraguay in their second match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group D. Speaking to the cameras after the match, head coach Vincenzo Montella drew attention to the misfortunes experienced during the match and the group stage.

Montella's words left a mark on the night: "I am very, very sad. There were high expectations on behalf of our nation. Our expectations were also high. I am also very sad for the TFF; I know how they work. I know how the players work."

Emphasizing the striking superiority in the statistics, Montella expressed his disappointment with the words: "I have been in football for 35 years; normally this happens once every 50 years, but it happened to us in 2 matches! There are 65 shots in two matches! I'm not even talking about ball possession! Fate was not on our side!"

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES IN THE RESULT

In the post-match statements, the team's choices in offensive organization also became a topic of discussion. Responding to a question about the striker substitution, Montella said: "We brought in Barış Alper Yılmaz, then we brought in a second striker. I made the decision based on the flow of the match. It has nothing to do with performance. To say 'a single center-forward would have changed everything' would be taking the easy way out."

Regarding criticisms of his squad choices, he stated: "I respect Ozan Kabak. The two center-backs at the back need to support each other. Merih Demiral plays in harmony with Abdülkerim Bardakcı. It could have been Ozan Kabak, or someone else could have played."

Stating that he was satisfied with the team's effort, Montella defended his players by saying, "I told our players to keep their heads up. As they sometimes say, there is nothing beyond what is destined!"

Montella conveyed that they displayed the effort to meet expectations throughout the match, but that football sometimes does not produce fair results: "We did everything! Everything... Football is like life... Not everything is always fair! You cannot always be happy. Such a picture might happen in 50 matches, but I have never seen anyone lose with these statistics in 2 consecutive matches! It is not in my 35-year career, I have not encountered it!"

Emphasizing that fate was not on Turkey's side, Montella said, "We could have been better in the opponent's penalty area, but this situation does not require me to criticize my players. If we hadn't been able to enter the opponent's penalty area, then we could say there was a problem. It sounds simple, but it was as if fate was not on our side... If we had scored one, it would have been different."

Speaking about the future of the team after the tournament, Montella highlighted the gains made by the young players and commented, "We are building a structure, and this has brought us good results. There are young players and they are maturing. We will develop a core squad by keeping new and young players in the process. We want to be in the tournaments to come."