Argentina’s head coach Lionel Scaloni has squashed the reports his team played with unsporting behavior in their quarterfinal win against the Netherlands. There were heated arguments during the match and Argentina’s captain Lionel Messi also criticized the referee.
As many as 14 yellow cards were given during the game by the referee as the team clashed multiple times. In fact, Lionel Messi also celebrated in front of Van Gaal after pointing both of his hands to his ears.
The teams also didn’t shake hands after the match came to a close. However, Scaloni wants to put the whole discussion to an end stating they had all the respect for the Netherlands and things happened in the heat of the moment.
“I want to finish with this topic,” Scaloni told a news conference on Monday. “We played the game in the way we had to play. It was both teams, Argentina and Netherlands, but that’s football. You have to defend and attack and in games, things can happen. Arguments can happen, and that’s why there’s a referee.
“We have to put an end to the idea of thinking Argentina is that sort of behavior.
“We have respect for the Netherlands and now we have respect for Croatia. We lost to Saudi Arabia and didn’t say anything.
“I’m not convinced of this idea of unsporting behavior. We played the game the way we had to play it and there’s a referee in charge. We need to put an end to this idea because it’s not what we are.”
Meanwhile, Argentina will face Croatia in the semifinal, who beat them in the group stage in the previous edition of the World Cup in 2018 in Russia by 3-0. However, Argentina defender Nicholas Tagliafico added both teams have different squads and it will be a different game altogether.
“It’s been four years,” Tagliafico said. “They have done really good work, they are a good team and a good squad. It’s different players now and we are another squad and another team. I think the match will be played in another way.
“We have analyzed how Croatia play, but we need to think about what we can do to hurt them. We will focus on Argentina and focus on ourselves.”
Argentina and Croatia will play against each other at the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday night.
