Heat and drinks breaks help smaller teams at World Cup, says Argentina coach Scaloni

The steamy weather and hydration breaks are helping the smaller teams at the World Cup, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said Sunday on the eve of the reigning champions' second game.

Argentina launched their title defence with Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Algeria.

They play Austria on Monday in Texas with the knockout rounds already in view, but Scaloni sounded a word of warning to any Argentina fans expecting it to be a walkover.

"What we see in this World Cup is that there is no such thing as an easy game," said Scaloni, who masterminded Argentina to the title in Qatar in 2022.

Even if "the group phase has always been historically [tricky], I would say this World Cup is a little bit more because there are more matches.

"The group phase has always been difficult to everyone, and the conditions, the heat and the match stops constantly.

"So that means that that might help the team that is theoretically weaker because they have time to recover."

Argentina were stunned 2-1 by Saudi Arabia in Qatar in the group stage, before going on to lift the title.

This is the biggest-ever World Cup, with 48 teams, and there are three-minute drinks breaks in each half of games this time.

Scaloni said that effectively divided matches into "four quarters."

The heat will at least not be a factor at the home of the Dallas Cowboys on Monday because it has a roof.

There will still be hydration breaks.

Midfielder Enzo Fernández agreed that the World Cup in North America is tighter than in 2022.

"I believe that the play is becoming more and more level," said the Chelsea star.

"And it is also more competitive this time compared to Qatar.

"This is my opinion, maybe I am mistaken, but I believe today, many national teams are causing a surprise here."

– TIMES/AFP