‘The World Cup is in the past’: Argentina manager

BUENOS AIRES, March 22: Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni has called on his players to be ready for a new challenge after their triumphant 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign in Qatar.
“We enjoyed ourselves as we should have but the World Cup is in the past,” Scaloni told a news conference on Tuesday.
“I now have another goal as the coach and there are new challenges. My job now is to try to keep the players at the same level. They can’t afford to relax and they know it.
“If we lose, the sun will rise the next day and it’s the same if we win, [but] we have to show our opponents that we are a very tough team to beat.”The comments came as Scaloni’s men prepare to host Panama in Buenos Aires on Thursday and Curacao in Santiago del Estero next Tuesday, a Xinhua report said.
The fixtures will be the Albiceleste’s first outings since their victory over France in the World Cup final in Lusail on December 18.
“We will enter the match against Panama the same way as we did against France,” Scaloni said. “Whoever goes out onto the pitch will know that he is representing Argentina. We will assimilate [as world champions] as best we can. The players are happy to see [the Argentine] people happy. But we cannot do whatever we want just because we are world champions.(IANS)