Argentina's Overflow of Emotions

KOMPAS/YUNIADHI AGUNG

Argentine players train at Qatar University Field, Qatar, Monday (12/12/2022). Argentina will face Croatia in the semifinals of the World Cup, Wednesday (14/12/2022) early morning WIB.

DOHA, KOMPAS — Argentina has never hidden its ambition of chasing a third World Cup trophy since arriving in Qatar. The strong will to become world champion again poured out through multiple emotions of the “La Albiceleste” squad while competing in five matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

All Argentina players loudly sang the national anthem "Himno Nacional Argentino" before the game. Lionel Messi, the star and captain of Argentina, who is known to be unsentimental, was the one who sang the loudest.

Apart from that, Messi ignited the enthusiasm of Argentina supporters by asking the fans not to stop their shouts of support. Messi rarely did this in the previous four World Cup editions, even when he was still an idol at Barcelona.

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The culmination of Messi's emotional outburst became a conflict after Argentina's match against the Netherlands, on Saturday morning Jakarta time (10/12/2022). He approached Dutch coach Louis van Gaal in an argument. He also sent away Dutch striker Wout Weghorst, who saw him conducting an interview in the dressing room hallway.

Ahead of the match against Croatia in the semifinals at 2 a.m. on Wednesday (14/12) at the Lusail Stadium, Lusail city, La Albiceleste will no doubt shed all their emotions to exert their best performance in order to advance to the final. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said the great emotions of his squad was due to their enthusiasm to give joy to the people of Argentina.

AFP/GABRIEL BOUYS

Croatia's forward #16 Bruno Petkovic fights for the ball with Brazil's defender #03 Thiago Silva and Brazil's defender #04 Marquinhos during the Qatar 2022 World Cup quarter-final football match between Croatia and Brazil at Education City Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha, on December 9, 2022.

He ensured that these emotions were a positive manifestation of his players who were always determined to perform at their best in every game. However, Scaloni also reminded his players to manage these emotions so that they would not have a bad impact on their appearance, such as the eight yellow cards received in the match against the Netherlands.

“The big emotions grew after losing to Saudi Arabia, because we consider all matches to be finals and must be won. We maintain that way of thinking because it helps the players exert their best abilities,” said Scaloni at a press conference in Doha, on Monday (12/12/2022).

We have to maintain our defense and to be effective when attacking from the first minute.

Meanwhile, Croatia is chasing two positive records that could be realized if they beat Argentina. They have the ambition to become the fourth European country to reach the final in two successive World Cups after Italy in 1934 and 1938, the Netherlands in 1974 and 1978, and Germany in the 1982, 1986 and 1990.

Croatia also wants to follow in Germany's footsteps when they won the 2014 World Cup. At that time, Germany beat Brazil and Argentina. Croatia had beaten Brazil, then had the opportunity to give Argentina a similar nightmare.

"We have to maintain our defense and to be effective when attacking from the first minute," said Croatian winger Ivan Perisic.

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo