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Rob Dawsonreporter
DOHA, Qatar – Lionel Scaloni has responded to the proposals Argentina resorted to ill-advised tactics in their World Cup quarter-final against Netherlands.
Argentinian face Croatia in the first semi-final on Tuesday after needing a penalty shootout to knock the Netherlands out after a fiery 2-2 draw with 17 yellow cards and one red card.
There have been a number of confrontations between players and staff, both on the field and in the tunnel after the game, but Scaloni said his team was not intentionally provoking.
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“I want to close this topic,” Scaloni said at a news conference Monday. “We played the game the way we had to. It was both teams, Argentina and the Netherlands, but that’s football. You have to defend and attack and in matches anything can happen. Disputes can happen, and that’s why arbitration is needed.”
“We have to stop thinking that Argentina is that kind of behavior.
“We respect the Netherlands and now we respect Croatia. We lost Saudi Arabia and said nothing.
“I don’t believe in this idea of unsportsmanlike behaviour. We played the game the way we were supposed to and had the referee in charge. We need to end this idea because it’s not who we are. we.”
Argentina has no suspended pair Marcos Acuna and Gonzalo Montielmeet Croatia at Lusail Stadium for the first time since a 0-3 defeat to Zlatko Dalic’s side in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Nicolas Tagliafico was on the Argentina team in Russia, but Lyon The full-back said the result will have nothing to do with which team reaches the final this time around.
“It’s been four years,” said Tagliafico. “They did very well, they are a good team and a good squad. Now the players are different and we are a different team and a different team. I think the game is going to be a different way.
“We analyzed how Croatia played, but we need to think about what we can do to hurt them. We will focus on Argentina and focus on ourselves.”
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Meanwhile, Dalic, the Croatia coach, was forced to defend his team’s play before the semi-final.
Croatia only won 1 match in 90 minutes in Qatar and had 1 shot on target before the opponent. Brazil in the quarterfinals before beating the five-time champion on penalties.
It raised questions about whether Dalic would set up his team specifically to wait for extra time and penalty shootouts, but the 56-year-old had a terse response to the comments. thought his tactics were boring.
“We want to score goals and win results,” he said. “We’re in the semi-finals of the World Cup and that’s where the story ends.”
Croatia have reached the semi-finals for the second consecutive time and the third since 1998, but before the meeting with Argentina, Dalic is keen to put pressure on the opponent, who are trying to win the World Cup for the first time. since 1986.
“They’re under more pressure than we are,” he added.
“This is a very important game for them. They will have a lot of fans, more than us, and that is a disadvantage for us but we will not complain. We will play. with one of the best teams in the world so we’re going to enjoy it.”
