Despite a series of surprise results in the early phase of the competition, Lionel Scaloni expects ⁠the established nations to prevail in the tournament. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Argentina coach ‌Lionel Scaloni admitted he was still coming to terms with the ​impact of hydration breaks introduced to combat the intense heat ⁠at the World Cup as the defending champion prepare to take on Austria on Monday.

The sides will meet in Dallas Stadium in their second Group J game, ‌both having launched their group campaigns last week with a win, and the mid-match pauses will remain in place despite the ‌game being played indoors.

“Everything that I have in my mind can ‌change ⁠depending on these 22, 23 minutes,” Scaloni told reporters on ⁠Sunday of the disruption caused by the breaks. “We have people analysing the game and we look for solutions. It’s what you do in a normal halftime.

“It’s for those who want ​to attack because you can amend ‌certain things. It’s weird to adapt to that. It’s something that, if we do it more, it will become normal. I don’t think this is normal to us yet.

“We’re trying to analyse things and correct ‌things. Sometimes the match changes in the first period itself and ​you can amend certain things. I understand it will change.”

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to guide Argentina ⁠to a 3-0 win over Algeria and another victory against the Austrians would secure a berth in the next phase of the competition for the title ‌holder.

The Ralf Rangnick-coached Austrians started the tournament with a 2-1 win over Jordan.

“Austria have very good players, they’re a great team, high pressure, a vertical team,” Scaloni said. “We have seen they are an opponent to be taken into account. It will be complicated.

“We have both won our opening match, so that might make the show better. It will be tough and at ‌the World Cup there is no easy game even though there are more matches. The ​group phase has always been difficult.”

Despite a series of surprise results in the early phase of the competition, Scaloni expects ⁠the established nations to prevail in the tournament.

“The great powers will be there, there ⁠are many that can compete and without a doubt this is going to be a tough World Cup,” he said.

“Even if ‌you’ve had a great match, you have to point out something that isn’t great and I believe every coach does this logically. Like every ​team we have our weak points and hopefully they won’t find them.”

Published on Jun 22, 2026