Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni is keeping belief on the current proceedings of his team, while Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic is focusing on 100% performance on the field in their World Cup semi-final tie at Lusail Iconic Stadium Tuesday.
As anticipated, Lionel Messi is at the center of all the attraction as his instrumental form in his last ever World Cup is carrying the hopes for the two-time world champions.
Messi has already scored four goals, one behind top-scorer Kylian Mbappe, and assisted twice to revive Argentina from their shocking loss at the hands of Saudi Arabia in the first gameweek.
A young Scaloni, after finishing his playing career in 2015 with Serie A side Atalanta, took the charge of his national team following a disappointing finish in Russia 2018 where he was working under the then coach Jorge Sampaoli, and experienced the heavy 3-0 defeat against Croatia hirst hand.
The 44-year old has connected impressively with the Argentina players, led by Messi, and started getting results – ending 28-year trophy drought with Copa America win in 2021 in Brazil - and entered this World Cup on a 36-match unbeaten run.
The tactician is now just two wins away from another heroic feat as he bids to end Argentina's long 36-year drought after the great Diego Maradona led them to their second World Cup title in Mexico 1986.
He has a good eye on his next opponents Croatia.
“They have troubled many teams. I won't mention the key players or their strengths or weaknesses but we've analyzed where we can hurt them. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't,” Scaloni told reporters on the eve of the first semi-final.
“We try to give it all on the pitch. Sometimes luck can be on your side. If we have a good performance, we'll have an easier road to reach our objective. But this is football, this is sport, so sometimes the best team may not win.”
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Argentina's quarter-final victory against the Netherlands was marred by several clashes and foul plays which resulted in a World Cup record 18 yellow cards, forcing Fifa to open disciplinary proceedings against both sides.
"The game the other day was played in the right way by both teams. That is football. There are times when you have to attack and times when you have to defend, times too when there might be arguments, " Scaloni vowed on behalf of his players.
Though the Albiceleste will miss Gonzalo Montiel and Marcos Acuna due to suspension, they got some relief as both Rodrigo De Paul and Angel Di Maria should be fit for the game after injury problems.
"In theory they are available and so we are relaxed about that. We need to see how many minutes they can play, but we will see later today, and we also have time tomorrow to decide," Scaloni said in the pre match press conference Monday.
Dalic, on the other hand, has termed the upcoming encounter as one of the greatest games in Croatia's history, and is highly focused on the performance.
“The semi-final match against England in the last World Cup was the greatest match of all time, the game against Brazil comes in second. If we win tomorrow that would make it the greatest historical game for Croatia of all time,” told the 56-year old in their pre-match presser.
Taking Croatia to two successive semi-finals, Dalic was diplomatic though when it came to the topic of Messi, and said his players will not dish out any special treatment to the great Paris Saint Germain man.
"We will make a detailed analysis of [Argentina] because we have not been so focused on them so far. Messi is still their main player, who plays great and carries this national team. They also have some young, talented players and they look very dangerous,” he said after breaking Messi's current clubmate Neymar's heart and sending Brazil home in the tie-breaker last Friday.
"However, they showed they are vulnerable because they led 2-0 against the Netherlands, and in the end they barely reached penalties at 2-2.”