Aimar previews Austria clash and highlights a Scaloni strength | OneFootball

Pablo Aimar, Lionel Scaloni’s main assistant with the Argentina national team, explained what the coaching staff thinks about the match against Austria, on Monday starting at 2 p.m. on TyC Sports, and predicted that it will be “very physical.” In addition, the former footballer and the coach’s right-hand man revealed the world champion manager’s greatest virtue: “He conveys confidence and calm”.

In an interview with FIFA’s official website, the Córdoba native spoke about the Group J second-round clash at the World Cup: “Austria are a very tough team, as we are seeing most of the teams in this World Cup are. They have a different approach from Algeria, perhaps with more physical players, but it will be just as tough”.

Along the same lines, he also described how they are experiencing these hours after the 3-0 opening win over Algeria: “The joy of having started well, something that didn’t happen to us in the previous World Cup, and calm, although it’s never 100 percent. But it is confirmation (regarding Messi’s level, after scoring a hat trick) of the standard of a truly exceptional athlete”.

Likewise, Aimar, who has worked with Scaloni since they took over as interim coaches in 2018 after Jorge Sampaoli’s departure, praised the manager and explained the main strengths of his successful tenure: “Scaloni put together a great team and a great group of people all moving in the same direction. That is very difficult to achieve and, above all, I think it is a great virtue to convey confidence and calm, because that is very hard to do”.

The core of the coaching staff is made up of Scaloni, Aimar, and the other two main assistants, who have different roles: Roberto Ayala and Walter Samuel. “It’s a friendship and a sense of camaraderie among everyone, not just the four of us; it makes us very happy when things go well for the others. If at some point each of us goes our own way, we will all want the others to do well, and that’s how we feel today. We’re happy to share the work, and there is a really lovely atmosphere; we are going through this journey with friends”, he acknowledged.

Aimar, alongside Scaloni and Samuel at Argentina’s World Cup debut (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

With the measured and reflective tone that defines him, the former River and Benfica player analyzed the importance of players experiencing these moments in the best possible way: “It’s important because you’re not only playing in the greatest competition you can aspire to, which is a World Cup, but also because of what you’re living through. That’s how we see it, and we try to create good memories beyond the sporting side of things. Of course we want the results to go well, but the journey matters too. Football can end one way or another, otherwise you’ve lost 40 days of your life. A good atmosphere is essential because, besides competing, we are spending part of our lives together”.

Finally, he recalled his World Cup experience as a player and that of his fellow coaching staff members: “As footballers, we played in World Cups and didn’t get to win them, so the memories get very mixed up, and some are sad, not all of them are happy, but you always aspire to play in a World Cup. I remember arriving in Japan-Korea and having the feeling of saying, ‘Well, finally I’m the one who’s going to be on TV singing the anthem’”.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.