‘Our experience gives us an advantage over England’: Argentina coach Scaloni ahead of World Cup semifinal

Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni believes his side’s experience of playing in high-pressure knockout matches will help them remain composed when they face England in the FIFA World Cup semifinal on Wednesday.

The defending champions are set to contest their fifth semifinal across the last five major tournaments and are aiming to reach a second successive World Cup final after lifting the trophy in Qatar in 2022.

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“We have a little bit of experience playing these games. It doesn’t necessarily give you an advantage, but perhaps it makes you calmer,” Scaloni was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

“This is our fifth semifinal as a team and that puts us at ease. The guys are calm and ready for the game.”

Scaloni acknowledged England’s individual quality, particularly Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, but said Argentina would remain focused on imposing their own style of play.

“We always seek to improve our team and neutralise these players in the best way possible. We might make changes, or we might repeat what we’ve done. The players don’t know what the team is yet,” he said.

“We are facing two of the best players in the world, and any head coach would be happy to have them in their squad. We have our weapons, and we’re going to do our best to neutralise them.”

Scaloni: We want to control the game

The 48-year-old said Argentina’s approach would be to dominate possession while preventing England from exploiting their pace on the counterattack.

“The idea is to have the ball, and when we don’t, not to suffer as much,” Scaloni said.

“They have great players with great pace and explosiveness, and guys who can beat you one-on-one. They have different features. We’d like to have the ball, and of course there are some nuances, and we’d like to try to surprise them as well.”

Scaloni, who has been in charge since 2018, guided Argentina to the Copa America semifinals in 2019 before leading them to Copa America titles in 2021 and 2024, as well as the 2022 FIFA World Cup crown.

Despite his team’s sustained success, the Argentina coach said reaching another World Cup semifinal should not be taken for granted.

“I don’t really know whether I thought I was going to be in this position. A month and a half ago I would have been grateful to get here, regardless of how. I would have signed off on that,” he said.

“We are very excited to be here. We’re not looking at how we got here; we’re here.”

Scaloni also urged his players to appreciate what they have already achieved while remaining fully focused on securing another place in the World Cup final.

“We’ve done so much and so many great things that we’re used to it. But I want to be clear: we are satisfied and thankful for what we’ve done. But we will leave everything on the pitch tomorrow to advance.”