\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Argentina men\u2019s national football team head coach Lionel Scaloni said his team will go \u201call in with whatever [they] have left\u201d in its World Cup 2026 semifinal matchup against England.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard not to suffer on your way to a World Cup semifinal,\u201d Scaloni added in the press conference following his team\u2019s 3-1 extra-time win in the quarterfinals against Switzerland. Argentina struggled for long periods against the Swiss and was lucky a timely red card changed the run of play.<\/p>\n
The Albiceleste boss chose to highlight the team\u2019s growth, pointing out that \u201cgames like this\u201d used to put his team in hot water four years ago at Qatar 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cNowadays, even when a team dominates us, attacks us or even ties the game, it paints a less bleak picture than before. The team keeps calm and keeps fighting, and that\u2019s something we didn\u2019t have before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Scaloni lauded Switzerland, calling them \u201ca great team\u201d that made things hard for Argentina with their physical play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPhysicality plays a big role at this stage. They won every duel on the pitch and on the loose balls. All of that makes things harder for you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The turning point The sending off of Swiss forward Breel Embolo, who earned his second yellow card and an automatic send-off for diving to simulate a foul, changed the game.<\/p>\n
Scaloni instantly saw that the opening for his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw that an opportunity was opening up that, up until that point, had seemed unlikely,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of the things I learned from being a coach is that when you believe you have to do something, you have to do it right then and there and not let the chance slip away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scaloni insisted his team won because they were \u201cambitious\u201d and eager to avoid a penalty shootout, which would\u2019ve given the Swiss a new emotional push after surviving with 10 men.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe said we were going to win, and when you get that into your head, it\u2019s a positive sign. It was the emotional aspect and the desire to win, not so much the game itself,\u201d he said.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Scaloni formula Wednesday\u2019s match against England will be Scaloni\u2019s fifth semifinal in five major international tournaments at the helm of the Argentine national team, starting with the 2019 Copa Am\u00e9rica.<\/p>\n
The coach alluded to this as something \u201cto be happy with.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scaloni went on to say that he doesn\u2019t have \u201cthe formula\u201d for how he and his staff have brought so much success to the Albiceleste. He made a point of insisting that what they\u2019ve accomplished would have been very difficult to do \u201cwithout the players we have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, some have criticized Scaloni over his team selection. Bright young stars like Nicol\u00e1s Paz, Valent\u00edn Barco, or Giuliano Simeone are earning few minutes, while some of the usual players under him remain staples of the team.<\/p>\n
Scaloni said their ages aren\u2019t the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe analyze the game and make decisions as the team requires, but I can make mistakes just like everyone else does,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we think they or someone else needs to come on, they will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Just a football match\u2019 The win set up a big clash for Argentina in the semifinals, where it will face off against bitter rivals England.<\/p>\n
Argentina vs. England has been a tense matchup, particularly since the 1982 Malvinas War and the 1986 quarterfinal clash.<\/p>\n
Scaloni was eager to lower tensions in the buildup, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a football match; let\u2019s not make it something else,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re playing a great team, led by a great coach who I appreciate and admire a lot. It\u2019s just a football match, nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite a lackluster performance against Switzerland, Scaloni said the focus should be on reaching a new World Cup semifinal, which he called \u201ca privileged place to be in football.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe we take it for granted, but it\u2019s not that easy. We have to be happy and excited, and we\u2019ll go all in with whatever we have left, down to the last drop of sweat. We\u2019re going to go for it all,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n
Editorial disclaimer: Although the UK refers to the territory as the \u201cFalkland Islands\u201d, Argentina strongly contests this name. The Buenos Aires Herald uses \u201cMalvinas\u201d to refer to the islands.<\/p>\n
Cover image: Selecci\u00f3n Argentina Twitter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Argentina men\u2019s national football team head coach Lionel Scaloni said his team will go \u201call in with whatever [they] have left\u201d in its World Cup 2026 semifinal matchup against England.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s hard not to suffer on your way to a World Cup semifinal,\u201d Scaloni added in the press conference following his team\u2019s 3-1 extra-time win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":89200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5063,66,5309,67,339],"tags":[5307,1368,5308,1369,3576],"class_list":["post-89199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-2026-world-cup","category-football","category-lionel-scaloni","category-sports","category-world-cup-2026","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-football","tag-lionel-scaloni","tag-sports","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}