Doha, Qatar – Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni on Monday stated his crew expects a troublesome World Cup semifinal sport in opposition to Croatia, after the South American aspect’s exhausting and emotionally charged quarterfinal win over the Netherlands.
La Albiceleste, as Argentina’s aspect are identified, will tackle the Valtreni, the Croatian crew, on the 89,000-capacity Lusail Stadium on Tuesday at 10pm (19:00 GMT) for a spot within the last.
“We anticipate a troublesome match and it’s in opposition to a extremely good crew. They’re a correct crew they usually play as a crew,” Scaloni advised reporters in a pre-match convention in Doha. “They’ll make issues difficult for us.”
“They’ve a particular enjoying fashion. I don’t suppose they’ll change that. It’s neither defensive nor attacking,” the previous Argentine nationwide crew participant stated. “They’ve superb gamers. And so they have a long-lasting soccer custom.”
“We’ve got our system and our fashion. We received’t change our fashion. We all know they’ve glorious gamers. They’ve gamers that may harm us. I received’t point out names,” Scaloni added.
Argentina haven’t had the best of routes to the semifinals. They have been shocked by Saudi Arabia of their opening match, shedding 2-1 to the Inexperienced Falcons. However they’ve upped their performances after the shock upset.
Since their opening sport defeat, the South People have solely conceded three objectives in 4 matches. Towards the Netherlands within the quarterfinals, they have been 2-0 up after a Lionel Messi penalty. An excellent defence-splitting cross from the Argentine captain had earlier set Nahuel Molina up for the primary objective.
However the Netherlands launched an unlikely comeback, scoring two objectives within the dying minutes of the sport — their equaliser got here within the tenth minute of added time.
The feisty sport, which noticed 17 gamers receiving yellow playing cards, went into further time earlier than the South People received 4-3 on penalties. Two-time champions Argentina will hope to keep away from a repeat in opposition to opponents who’ve mastered the artwork of taking video games deep and successful in further time or penalty shootouts. Croatia have received 5 of their final six World Cup knockout video games — in every case by taking the match past 90 minutes.
“We belief (Emiliano) Martinez a lot,” Argentina defender Nicolas Tagliafico stated. “However we will by no means be too calm no matter having a extremely good goalkeeper.”
“You’ll be able to follow penalty shootouts however as soon as you’re on the pitch with hundreds of followers and feelings operating excessive it isn’t the identical,” he stated.
The 2 groups have locked horns 5 occasions beforehand, with either side choosing up two wins and the fifth sport ending in a draw. That features two encounters on the World Cup.
In 1998, Argentina beat Croatia 1-0. Twenty years later, in 2018, Croatia acquired their revenge, beating La Albiceleste 3-0.
However each these video games have been within the group phases: On Tuesday the stakes shall be greater than any the 2 sides have skilled whereas going through off in opposition to one another.
Croatia — in the event that they win — would change into the primary back-to-back World Cup finalists since Brazil in 2002. However in Messi, Argentina have a participant who can unlock any defence at any second.
The seven-time Balon d’Or winner is eyeing his second World Cup last, after his crew misplaced to Germany in 2014. The World Cup trophy is the one key title lacking from his assortment, which incorporates each large membership and nationwide crew title.
“He’s the one pushing us. He’s the one motivating us,” Tagliafico, the left-back who performs within the French league for Lyon, stated. “We’re actually fortunate to have Messi as our captain.”