World Cup: Scaloni banks on Argentina’s big-match experience ahead of England showdown
By Joel Masibo, July 15, 2026Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni believes his team’s wealth of experience in high-pressure tournaments will help them as they prepare to take on England in Wednesday’s FIFA World Cup semifinal.
The encounter marks Argentina’s fifth appearance in a semifinal across their last five major international competitions. The South American champions are now chasing a second straight World Cup crown after lifting the trophy in Qatar in 2022.
“We have a little bit of experience playing these games. It doesn’t necessarily give you an advantage, but perhaps it makes you calmer,” Scaloni said. “This is our fifth semifinal as a team and that puts us at ease. The guys are calm and ready for the game.”
Danger posed by England
Scaloni acknowledged the danger posed by England’s star players, especially Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, but insisted Argentina would remain faithful to its own style while finding ways to contain them.
“We always seek to improve our team and neutralize these players in the best way possible. We might make changes, or we might repeat what we’ve done. The players don’t know what the team is yet,” he said. “We are facing two of the best players in the world, and any head coach would be happy to have them in their squad. We have our weapons, and we’re going to do our best to neutralize them.”
The Argentine coach explained that his side intends to dominate possession while preventing England from exploiting quick transitions.
“The idea is to have the ball, and when we don’t, not to suffer as much,” Scaloni said. “They have great players with great pace and explosiveness, and guys who can beat you one-on-one. They have different features. We’d like to have the ball, and of course there are some nuances, and we’d like to try to surprise them as well.”
Since taking charge of Argentina in 2018, Scaloni has transformed the national team into one of world football’s dominant forces. After reaching the Copa America semifinals in 2019, he guided La Albiceleste to continental triumphs in 2021 and 2024, as well as World Cup glory in 2022.
World Cup journey
Despite the team’s sustained success, the 48-year-old admitted he never assumed another semifinal appearance was guaranteed and remains grateful for the journey.
“I don’t really know whether I thought I was going to be in this position. A month and a half ago I would have been grateful to get here, regardless of how. I would have signed off on that,” he said. “We are very excited to be here. We’re not looking at how we got here, we’re here.”
Scaloni emphasized that Argentina’s achievements should not be taken for granted, even as the players continue to pursue more silverware.
“We’ve done so much and so many great things that we’re used to it. But I want to be clear: we are satisfied and thankful for what we’ve done. But we will leave everything on the pitch tomorrow to advance,” he added.