Argentina face Croatia in the World Cup semi-final tonight at the Lusail Stadium following Friday nights epic victory over the Netherlands.
While the Albiceleste’s emotions may have cooled from the quarter-final encounter, the after affects of it have not. The ill-tempered affair saw Marcus Acuna and Gonzalo Montiel pick up bookings that rules them out of tonight’s game.
Lionel Scaloni has yet to name an unchanged team in the tournament. They have returned to a back four with Nicola Tagliafico coming in at left back. Julian Alvarez keeps his place ahead of Lautaro Martinez.
Scaloni has been on the defensive in the pre-match build up, insisting that his team is not unsportsmanlike. He told the BBC: “In some games things can happen like this. There can be arguments but that’s all…we need to put an end to this idea of thinking Argentina behave like this.”
Having knocked out Brazil in the quarter-final, Zlatko Dalic is preparing to add another South American giant to their list and reach their second successive World Cup Final. He told BBC yesterday: “If we win tomorrow that would make it the greatest historical game for Croatia of all time.”
Argentina will hope their passion can overcome the experience and determination of Croatia.
