Suffering ‘part of Argentina’s DNA’ after reaching World Cup semi-finals, says Scaloni

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni believes suffering is “part of our DNA”, following their extra-time victory over 10-man Switzerland in the World Cup quarter-finals.

The three-time world champions are through to the semi-finals of the competition for the third time in the last four editions, after a hard-earned 3-1 win in Kansas City.

Despite playing the final 20 minutes of regulation time against 10 men following Breel Embolo’s second yellow card for simulation, Argentina were taken to extra-time in a World Cup match for a record 13th time.

Nevertheless, Julian Alvarez’s stunning long-range strike and a late Lautaro Martinez goal helped La Albiceleste prevail for an 11th time in such games (including penalty shoot-out wins).

Argentina did the same against a spirited Cape Verde in the round of 32, while they recovered from 2-0 down against Egypt in the following round by scoring three times in the final 11 minutes.

And Scaloni hailed his side’s ability to maintain their belief in adversity has become one of their main characteristics.

El esfuerzo valió la pena y este abrazo es el reflejo de un país entero empujando para adelantepic.twitter.com/lkykrhEQTJ

— Selección Argentina (@Argentina) July 12, 2026

“It was a tough opponent,” he said. “It was ‌very difficult ⁠for us to win the duels, to put more than five or six passes together.

“They were very strong, and they made us struggle in one-v-ones in different areas of the pitch. We suffered quite a lot.

“We knew that we were going to suffer, and this is part of our blood, this is part ​of our DNA, and this brings peace of mind.

“When you reach a semi-final, you need to suffer. You need to go through it.”

Scaloni, who is unbeaten in all 10 of his matches against UEFA opposition (W7 D3), thinks this stems back to Argentina’s triumph in Qatar four years ago.

There, they beat the Netherlands in the quarter-finals on penalties having surrendered a 2-0 lead, before doing the same in their epic final showdown with France.

“In Qatar, we were not that experienced, myself included, and those kinds of situations were very difficult,” he added.

“However, now we are more experienced because we know what it feels like to be dominated by the opponent, to concede an equaliser. So today, we kept ​our composure. The team knew how to remain calm and, of course, we will never give up.

“Ultimately, we always find the ⁠solutions. This is thanks to the players, because ​they had to trust in the process. We are a collective side. We are together. We are ​very much united. ⁠And this is proof that football is complicated.”

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