Scaloni spoke in the Australia preview: doubts with Di María, anger at the lack of rest and baton for the VAR

There is a concern that Lionel Scaloni is thinking about and which prevents him from advancing in the definition of the team that will play the round of 16 against Australia, this Saturday from 16:00 (Argentina time). The national coach is only a few hours away from returning to the field after Wednesday’s victory against Poland and doesn’t know with absolute certainty whether he will make it against everyone. The question, mainly, is the state of Angel Di María and whether he will be able to start or not.

“As you will understand, yesterday (Thursday) was a day of recovery for the majority. Training was only about analyzing Australia. We will only train today (this Thursday afternoon) and we will have a clearer picture of Ángel’s recovery and others,” DT said.

Of course, he ruled out that Fideo was a contracture and warned that if he gives him physical guarantees he will be able to use him: “He came out with some discomfort, but it’s not a contracture. Let’s wait for tomorrow. If Ángel gives me availability, he’ll play, after the game we went to sleep at 4 in the morning and this influenced, The Egg (by Marcos Acuña) is fine, he went out because he had a yellow card and because there was no need to risk it and we trusted Nico Tagliafico”.

The issue of little rest (just over 48 hours between matches) is something that has caused a lot of inconvenience indoors and Scaloni has no problem bringing it to light. “Australia have a difference in rest because they played four hours earlier and were second in their group. They watched our game sitting in front of the television. Our players are used to playing every three days and that won’t affect it. But it won’t affect us.” “It was a level playing field. We had to make another deal. Argentina are the only team in the World Cup who play in less than 72 hours. It’s very strange. When the draw came out I had seen it but it wasn’t worth complaining because they said we thought we were the first,” shot the Pujato-born coach.

Scaloni also threw a stick at the VAR and at the new technological tools that will be implemented for the first time in Qatar 2022, such as the semi-automatic offside. When asked about the controversy in the match between Spain and Japan (whether or not the ball went out in the second Asian goal), he analysed: “I think like Luis Enrique. The first images are eloquent and if you analyze them to the millimeter what is happening it happens. We live it and it’s hard to swallow because it’s a very new thing and in a World Cup that is much more shocking. If we had more time… This was sudden, with some rehearsals and that’s it. Let him trace the lines with a ruler or a set square so they don’t get twisted,” he launched ironically.

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