Lionel Scaloni wants his Argentina squad to play beautiful football. He also wants them to scrap like their lives depend on it. Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-final against England, the defending champion coach distilled his entire tactical philosophy into a deceptively simple phrase: the team needs both “football and fight.”
Argentina won the 2022 World Cup under his leadership, and the 2026 campaign has been nearly flawless so far, with three group-stage wins and a hard-fought quarter-final victory over Switzerland that required extra time to seal.
The path to the semi-final
Argentina entered this tournament as defending champions. Scaloni’s side handled the group stage with clinical efficiency, winning all three matches.
The quarter-final against Switzerland required extra time to advance, the kind of grinding, physically demanding match that separates pretenders from contenders.
