December 3, 2022, 18:35 PM
December 3, 2022, 18:35 PM
The Argentine coach, Lionel Scaloni, considered himself “satisfied” by qualifying for the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Qatar this Saturday after beating Australia 2-1, although he said that “we had situations to widen the difference”.
“We are satisfied, above all because today’s game was very difficult, they put on suffocating pressure, they were stronger than us. It cost us the first half, then I think we improved”Scaloni said at a press conference after the meeting.
“We corrected some things, the team did not deserve to suffer those last minutes because we had situations to widen the difference, I think we played a typical World Cup match”, he added.
“Today we found a very difficult rival, this is good so that everyone understands that the difficulty is maximum”, affirmed the Argentine DT.
Scaloni complained about the intense series of four games in eleven days in this atypical World Cup.
“In the last minutes physically we were fair. The game was less than 72 hours away (from the match against Poland) and playing at 10 at night, we go to sleep late, but that’s it, the issue is settled,” Scaloni said.
The celebration with the public “is a unique injection of morale, I would like everyone to be able to experience what a player feels when they see those people, there is nothing better than that to capture everything on the pitch. That sums up the four games in eleven days and giving that little bit more than you always have,” he said.
The Argentine coach hoped to be able to count on Ángel di María for the quarterfinal match against the Netherlands on December 9.
“Today Ángel was not in a position to play. We hope that as the days go by he can improve and get to the game”, said Scaloni, who was full of praise for his Orange counterpart, Louis Van Gaal.
“I was at Deportivo de La Coruña when he was coaching Barcelona and he was already an eminence, It is a pride to face him, the whole world knows what he has done for football”, said Scaloni.
The Netherlands “is a team that has things very clear, maybe it doesn’t shine like other previous Dutch teams, but they have things very clear. It’s going to be a nice game with two historic teams. One will be left out, hopefully we will pass, “he concluded.
