Ahead of a Copa America quarter-finals the Albicelestes boss says his side are playing with a lot of confidence
Lionel Scaloni hopes Argentina can take confidence from their win over Qatar into their Copa America quarter-final against Venezuela.
Goals from Lautaro Martinez and Sergio Aguero helped Argentina beat Qatar to move into the last eight, where Venezuela await at the Maracana on Friday.
Scaloni said that victory had given his side plenty of confidence as they eye the semi-finals.
“We think we’re good because we came from a win that gave us a significant emotional boost,” he told a news conference.
“It’s going to be a difficult game, but we are confident.”
Argentina have dominated Venezuela at the Copa America, winning their five meetings and scoring 28 goals while conceding just three.
But Scaloni said he expected his team to be challenged by a Venezuela side that were unbeaten in Group A.
“Football has evolved,” he said. “Nowadays, every team has difficulty.”
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Argentina have seen their share of struggles at the competition in Brazil.
It started on matchday one when they were outclassed in a 2-0 loss against Colombia and spilled into the side’s second match when they were held to a 1-1 draw against Paraguay.
That left the team in desperate need of a win against visitors Qatar just to reach the knockout rounds.
Their opponent on Friday, Venezuela, have earned just one win over Bolivia so far, but played to a draw with Peru despite going down a man on matchday one and held hosts Brazil to a draw as well.
Scaloni has yet to settle on a first-choice side, bringing both he and the players under pressure, but he encouraged his country to get behind the club earlier in the week rather than making the team feel as though they were going to war.
“Sometimes, these guys go out to play a soccer game and they seem to go out and play a war. With the pressure on them sometimes it is difficult to play,” he said.
“The message should be that while playing in the Copa America we are all on the same side.”
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