Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said on Monday that his country will trust his game when he faces Croatia in the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup on Tuesday, expressing his belief that Argentina has figured out how to damage the runner-up in 2018.
Croatia were not favorites to reach the semi-finals again, but they reached this stage by resorting to penalty kicks twice in a repeat of their achievement in Russia 2018.
“They upset many teams,” Scaloni told reporters on the eve of the first semi-final. I won’t mention their key players or their strengths and weaknesses, but we’ve gone to the points where we can damage them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. We try to do everything on the field. Sometimes luck is on your side. If we perform well, we will have an easier way to reach our goal. But this is football, this is sport. So sometimes the best team may not win.
When asked about veteran Croatian midfielder Luka Modric, who is still going strong at the age of 37, Scaloni said it was a pleasure to watch Modric play.
He is a role model for many of us, Scaloni said. Not only because of his talent but also because of his demeanor. All I can say is that we have to enjoy his performance. If you love soccer, you should enjoy players like him.
Scaloni said that Angel Di Maria and Rodrigo de Paul would be in good shape, and the absence of the suspended Marcos Acuña, in addition to Gonzalo Montiel, would not be a problem.
Scaloni said: We have our own system and style of play. Of course, in certain situations we need to take into account how the opponents play. We will not change our usual style. We will of course make our decisions during the match based on the situations and we will rise to the challenge.
