Aimar looked ahead to the Austria clash and praised Scaloni's strength | OneFootball

Pablo Aimar, Lionel Scaloni’s chief assistant with the Argentina National Team, explained what the coaching staff thinks about the match against Austria, on Monday from 2 p.m. on TyC Sports, and anticipated that it will be “very physical.” In addition, the former footballer and the coach’s right-hand man revealed the great virtue of the World Cup-winning manager: “He conveys confidence and calm”.

In an interview with FIFA’s official website, the Córdoba native spoke about the second matchday clash in World Cup Group J: “Austria are a very tough team, just like the vast majority of the teams taking part in this World Cup are proving to be. They have a different approach from Algeria, perhaps with more physical players, but it’s going to be just as tough”.

Along the same lines, he also spoke about how they are experiencing these hours after their 3-0 winning debut against Algeria: “We’re happy to have started well, something that didn’t happen to us at the previous World Cup, and calm, although it’s never 100 percent. But it confirms (in relation to Messi’s level, after scoring a hat trick) the standard of a truly exceptional athlete”.

Likewise, Aimar, who has worked with Scaloni since they took over on an interim basis in 2018 after Jorge Sampaoli’s departure, praised the coach and explained the main strengths of his successful tenure: “Scaloni built a great team and a great group of people all pulling in the same direction. That’s very difficult to achieve and, above all, I think his great virtue is conveying confidence and calm, which 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’ll all want the others to do well, and that’s how we feel today. We’re happy to share the work, and there’s a really nice atmosphere; we’re going through this journey with friends”, he acknowledged.

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

With the restraint and reflective tone that characterize him, the former River and Benfica player analyzed the importance of the players experiencing these moments in the best possible way: “It’s important because you’re not only playing in the highest 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 it. Of course we want the results to go our way, 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’re 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 and some are sad; not all of them are good, but you always aspire to play in a World Cup. I remember arriving in Japan-Korea and feeling: ‘Well, at last 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.