{"id":543632,"date":"2026-07-16T02:01:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/543632\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T02:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:01:17","slug":"argentinas-cristian-romero-on-gary-neville-criticism-i-hope-when-i-retire-im-not-that-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/543632\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina\u2019s Cristian Romero on Gary Neville criticism: \u2018I hope when I retire, I\u2019m not that stupid\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Argentina\u2019s Cristian Romero says he hopes he is not as \u201cstupid\u201d as Gary Neville when he retires, after the former England and Manchester United defender criticised him ahead of Wednesday\u2019s World Cup semi-final<\/p>\n

In the build-up to Argentina\u2019s 2-1 win over England, Neville said Argentina\u2019s Romero and Lisandro Martinez were \u201cthe best, worst centre-half pairing in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

The duo have played regularly together at international level for several years, including starting in the 2024 Copa America final victory over Colombia, and have started all but one of their side\u2019s World Cup matches this summer \u2014 the exception being the final group-stage game against Jordan when Argentina had already qualified.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that I hope for is that when I retire, I am not that stupid. Hopefully I won\u2019t criticise a player or anyone,\u201d Romero replied when asked about Neville\u2019s remark by DSports<\/a> after the win over England.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause at the end of the day, we are doing our best for our national team. Sometimes it goes right for us, sometimes badly, but we are just happy to be in a World Cup final again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are making history, for us it is something really huge, and we feel the significance of this shirt like no one else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez added: \u201cWe\u2019re used to people always talking about us. It seems like they like doing it, and we respond on the pitch, that\u2019s it, always with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Martinez<\/p>\n

\n Martinez and Romero have been a regular centre-back pairing for Argentina (Juan Mabromata \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Romero of Tottenham Hotspur and Martinez of Manchester United have played in the Premier League, which Neville covers as a commentator and pundit for Sky Sports, for five and four years respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey seem to give a goal away between them every single game,\u201d Neville said about the pair on The Overlap<\/a>\u00a0earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you watch them (for Argentina), they are scoring goals, heading the ball, they\u2019re literally everywhere \u2014 it\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI call them the best, worst centre-half pairing in the world. Because they absolutely at times they can be unbelievable but the next, it\u2019s the sublime to the ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Romero-Martinez partnership has kept two clean sheets in six World Cup games (against Algeria and Austria), conceding six goals (against Cape Verde, Egypt, Switzerland and England).<\/p>\n

Argentina\u2019s win in Atlanta sees them through to the final, where they will face Spain at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Argentina\u2019s Cristian Romero says he hopes he is not as \u201cstupid\u201d as Gary Neville when he retires, after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9877,444,49848,85,49849,46,3157,105,4028],"class_list":["post-543632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-argentina","tag-england","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-il","tag-international-football","tag-israel","tag-manchester-united","tag-sports","tag-tottenham-hotspur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}