Coach Scaloni: 'Luckily Messi opened the scoring'

"It was a match with suffocating pressure. We struggled from the first half, but fortunately Messi opened the scoring. In the second half we corrected some mistakes. We didn't deserve to end. working hard like that," coach Scaloni said of the 2-1 victory at Ahmad bin Ali.

The start was sluggish against Australia's scientific defensive kick, but Argentina still opened the scoring thanks to Lionel's thick shot in the penalty box 35 minutes into the second half. After the second half had started 12 minutes, Julian Alvarez increased the difference after wrong. Goalkeeper Mathew Ryan's mistake.

In the same situation, Australia rose up and shortened the gap to 1-2 thanks to Enzo Fernandez's own goal in the 77th minute, the kangaroo team continuously bombarded Argentina's goal. The score could have been 2-2 if Lisandro Martinez hadn't stopped Aziz Behich's solo in time, or goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez had failed to block Garang Koul's face-to-face shot in seventh minute of stoppage time.

According to Scaloni, Australia is a really difficult opponent to play. He also said that victory in a suffocating position is a spiritual medicine to help Argentina overcome the rigors of the three-day competition. "There is no explanation for how the players feel after the win in front of the fans. It feels like the whole country is behind and we are playing in Argentina," Scaloni said.

In the quarterfinals on December 9, Argentina met the Netherlands. In 1998, the Netherlands eliminated Argentina in the quarterfinals with a score of 2-1. But in the penalty shootout of the 2014 World Cup semi-final, Argentina won again.

According to Scaloni, the current Netherlands is not as sublimated as in the past, still has certain strengths. "Facing Van Gaal would be a source of pride. I did it as a Deportivo player against his Barca. Everyone knows what he does for football and how many people. try to imitate him," Scaloni insisted.