The Albiceleste will play their first knock-out stage match in the tournament.
Argentina will “break their back” to win the World Cup in Qatar, vows Lionel Scaloni.
Following a rocky start to the tournament, the Albiceleste reached the knock-out stage by beating Mexico and Poland.
Lionel Messi and co will now prepare to face Australia in the last-16 round. But Scaloni urges his team to put aside the favourites tag ahead of the game.
“Whether [Australia] are inferior or not, we need to see that. I don’t fully agree,” the Argentina manager said.
“They are a good team, and this is football. It’s 11 versus 11, and this is the reality. We need to leave aside the ‘favourites’ tag and play the game. Our idea is to play like in the last games.”
He added: “As we’ve been saying all along, we will break our backs on the pitch in this World Cup. We will be there to compete.
“We know how difficult this World Cup is. This is football, we’ve seen this yesterday and in previous games. For me, these are not surprises.
“When we think about big national teams, we think they should always be in the next phase, but sometimes that does not occur. Things get turned around. That’s what happens in football.”
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