With Messi in the gym, the national team trained after the tense match against the Netherlands

The World Cup in Qatar is like this, it doesn’t give us a break. After the grueling quarterfinal match against the Netherlands, the Argentina national team has already started its preparation for the duel against Croatia, on Tuesday the 13th (at 16:00) for the semifinals of the World Cup and with a ticket for the final in Game. The biggest challenge for the coaching staff right now is recovering the physical part of a team that has ended up exhausted.

Argentina were winning 2-1 against the Netherlands when the Spanish referee allowed ten minutes of added time. The tie came down to the last game and they had to go out to play two overtimes and then settle on penalties. Physical and mental tiredness after almost a month of competitions in which the team played five games (the first on 11/22).

At the National University of Doha, the team led by Lionel Scaloni has been doing regenerative work. All the players who had minutes this Friday did a session on a stationary bike to loosen up their muscles. While those who didn’t play participated in the classic “fool” and other work with the ball.

Lionel Messi, meanwhile, was not on the lawn of the main pitch of the property where the national team works in Doha. The Argentine captain is – together with Emiliano Martínez and Nicolás Otamendi – the only one who has played every minute of the World Cup. To recover his physique he worked separately with kinesiologists in the gym.

The other with a differentiated work was Ángel Di María. El Fideo first cycled and then jogged separately with the team’s physical trainer. Rosario’s man suffered a muscle discomfort in his right quadriceps in the match against Poland, he did not play against Australia for the round of 16 and returned against the Netherlands to play the last ten minutes of added time. How he will get to Tuesday’s game is the main question for the coaching staff.

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