MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Scaloni plays down England semifinal: 'It's a football match, nothing more'

“We are going to play against a great team, with a great coach, whom I appreciate and admire greatly. It's a football match, full stop. There's nothing more to it,” he added

Argentina's head coach, Lionel Scaloni, rejected attributing any meaning beyond sport to the World Cup semifinal against England, to be played on Wednesday, and urged that the match be treated as just another game of football.

Asked at a news conference what message he would give to fans anxious about the match, Scaloni cut the question short. “It's a football match. The message is that it's a football match. Let's not look for anything else,” he replied. “We are going to play against a great team, with a great coach, whom I appreciate and admire greatly. It's a football match, full stop. There's nothing more to it,” he added, referring to England manager Thomas Tuchel. The coach also said the opponent made no difference to him: “It doesn't matter whether it's England or Norway.”

The remarks were aimed at defusing the symbolic weight that surrounds matches against England in Argentina, linked to the 1982 South Atlantic conflict and to the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal in Mexico, exactly forty years ago, in which Diego Maradona scored the two goals that sealed Argentina's 2-1 win.

The players spoke along similar lines, while acknowledging the scale of the fixture. “It's an epic match, I don't want to add extra ingredients to it,” said defender Nicolás Tagliafico. “It will be a match to enjoy, and to suffer through.” Leandro Paredes said the squad is aware of what the game means for the country, but insisted it is a football match. Julián Álvarez, who scored the goal that set up the win, said England have quality players and that the focus must be on Argentina's own game.

Argentina reached the semifinals after beating Switzerland 3-1 in extra time in Kansas City. Álvarez scored in the 112th minute and Lautaro Martínez sealed the result in the final minute of the additional period. Switzerland played with ten men from the 72nd minute after Breel Embolo was sent off for a second booking. Scaloni acknowledged the difficulties: “We suffered today. We knew they were a very physical side,” he said, though he described reaching another semifinal as “historic.”

The head-to-head record between the two teams stands at fifteen meetings across competitive and friendly matches, with six England wins, three for Argentina and six draws. Their most recent meeting was in 2005. At World Cups it will be their sixth encounter. The winner will play in the final against the victor of the France-Spain match.

Celebrations over the result led to isolated incidents at the Obelisk in Buenos Aires, where thirteen people required assistance from emergency services.