“I’m not here to criticize my players”

The choice of Argentina, Lionel Scalonicame out Thursday in defense of his students after losing 2-1 to Paraguay, a rival he praised. “I’m not here to criticize my players, I’m here to support them,” Scaloni declared in a press conference after the match in the eleventh round of the playoffs played at the Defensores del Chaco stadium in Asunción.

“We knew it was going to be a complicated game and that was it,” he said, trying to make light of the result. He insisted he and his assistants were there to “give confidence” to the players. When asked about the match in the Paraguayan capital, Scaloni said that they were in possession of the ball in the first half, a situation that changed after scoring the second goal at the start of the complementary half and that he considered putting “the game up.”

“We tried, which is the important thing. We tried in our own way, it wasn’t possible. We have to congratulate the rival and that is evident that they have defended well and have expert people,” added Scaloni, after admitting that it is “hard for them.”

He does not want to seek reasons in arbitration

Regarding the refereeing, he admitted he had “a lot to say,” but refrained from doing so so “people don’t interpret it as an excuse.” That’s all, it happened and we all saw what happened on the field; that has nothing to do with the result won by Paraguay,” he acknowledged.

Looking ahead to the commitment against Peru, this Tuesday, he is expected to be concerned with “correcting” and “looking at things that can be improved.” However, he said that it is a rival “that will be completely different from this one, they play in a different way, with a different system” and acknowledges that “it has difficulties, like the South American qualifiers.”