Having already had their fingers scorched by Saudi Arabia earlier in the tournament and wiser for the experience, Argentina gaffer Lionel Scaloni insisted World Cup giants Argentina would not be letting their guard down and make the mistake of taking outsiders Australia lightly.
Argentina’s World Cup hopes were then dangling by the proverbial thread after they were stunned 2-1 by the lowly-ranked Saudis in their opening Group C match.
However they settled in and bounced back impressively with panache to beat both Mexico and Poland 2-0 in the following games and topped the group, setting up a last 16 clash with the Socceroos.
“They’re all difficult, we saw that with Saudi Arabia,” Scaloni told reporters late on Wednesday.
“If you think Australia will be easy you’re wrong because they have shown that getting through against tough teams in this World Cup.”
Scaloni admitted he and his backroom staff had spent little time analysing Australia so far but would do so now.
However he insisted that while “we have to analyse our opponents, we have to also think about how to hurt them.”
Scaloni also vented his displeasure with the organisers as Argentina will be playing their last 16 tie on Saturday with only two full days to rest.
“We are happy today but I don’t want to be euphoric because I think it’s crazy that we’re playing in just over two days despite being winners of this group,” he said.
“I can’t understand it. It’s already (the early hours of) Thursday and we have two days and then we have to play it.”
As for suggestions that Argentina’s defeat to Saudi Arabia had been a blessing in disguise, Scaloni was quick to dismiss them.
“No, I don’t think it was beneficial to lose, we didn’t gain anything from that defeat and we knew we had to win the remaining two games.”
For the players, Argentina’s ability to bounce back from that adversity showed their mettle as they even overcame captain and talisman Lionel Messi uncharacteristically missing a first half penalty with the score at 0-0.
“We showed we have a lot of character and personality. We deserve respect for finishing first in the group and the way we played,” said midfielder Rodrigo De Paul.
Centre-back Nicolas Otamendi added: “We’re a team that gets stronger under pressure, we keeping demonstrating it.”
Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, who opened the scoring less than a minute into the second half, said it was a “dream come true” to bag a goal at the World Cup.
And he insisted the team never stopped believing, even after Messi’s miss.
“We were always positive, we had the composure we needed to win this match — the missed penalty didn’t get us down,” he said.