The steamy weather and hydration breaks are helping the smaller teams at the World Cup, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said Sunday on the eve of the reigning champions’ second game.<\/p>\n
Argentina launched their title defence with Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Algeria.<\/p>\n
They play Austria on Monday in Texas with the knockout rounds already in view, but Scaloni sounded a word of warning to any Argentina fans expecting it to be a walkover.<\/p>\n
“What we see in this World Cup is that there is no such thing as an easy game,” said Scaloni, who masterminded Argentina to the title in Qatar in 2022.<\/p>\n
Even if “the group phase has always been historically [tricky], I would say this World Cup is a little bit more because there are more matches.<\/p>\n
“The group phase has always been difficult to everyone, and the conditions, the heat and the match stops constantly.<\/p>\n
“So that means that that might help the team that is theoretically weaker because they have time to recover.”<\/p>\n
Argentina were stunned 2-1 by Saudi Arabia in Qatar in the group stage, before going on to lift the title.<\/p>\n
This is the biggest-ever World Cup, with 48 teams, and there are three-minute drinks breaks in each half of games this time.<\/p>\n
Scaloni said that effectively divided matches into “four quarters.”<\/p>\n
The heat will at least not be a factor at the home of the Dallas Cowboys on Monday because it has a roof.<\/p>\n
There will still be hydration breaks.<\/p>\n
Midfielder Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez agreed that the World Cup in North America is tighter than in 2022.<\/p>\n
“I believe that the play is becoming more and more level,” said the Chelsea star.<\/p>\n
“And it is also more competitive this time compared to Qatar.<\/p>\n
“This is my opinion, maybe I am mistaken, but I believe today, many national teams are causing a surprise here.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2013 TIMES\/AFP<\/p>\n
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