Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni has defended the country’s attacking variety at the 2026 World Cup. This comes ahead of his team’s knockout opener against tournament surprise package Cape Verde in Miami.
Insisting that he remains completely unconcerned by Messi’s heavy goalscoring burden, Scaloni stated that securing collective victories remains the ultimate priority heading into a ruthless single-elimination phase.
The World Cup winner added that the media scrutiny regarding Argentina’s over-reliance on its talismanic captain will not distract his players.
His words, “We are doing well, and naturally as excited as everyone else. There is an opponent to respect; they have done things very well, and the margin for error is shrinking. Whoever loses goes home.
We are keeping that in mind, but it catches us at a good time. This is football, and matches are very evenly matched. Setting aside France or Mexico, who won very comfortably, other games have been very tightly contested. It will not be easy. That is the reality.
With us, Messi has played under all sorts of conditions, so I imagine he will feature. It will depend on the match and on him. It is very difficult to predict what might happen.
We have had chances fall to other players, but Leo, who is one of our forwards, scored the goals. It is not a cause for concern. I would like the goals to be shared around, but as long as the team plays well and wins, everything is fine.
Cape Verde are a team that have not lost. They even deserved to win against Saudi Arabia. Against Spain and Uruguay they suffered a bit more, but they defended well. They close down central passing channels effectively and are very dangerous on the counter-attack. They have technically gifted players. They are a good team, as we have already seen. In the end, they progressed, and it does not surprise us. They are not here by accident; we must respect them, and we will do exactly that.”
