Argentina hopeful Di Maria, De Paul fit for World Cup quarter-final

Argentina mentor Lionel Scaloni said Thursday he was hopeful Heavenly messenger Di Maria and Rodrigo De Paul will be accessible for their Reality Cup quarter-last against the Netherlands.

Di Maria missed the last-16 win over Australia in light of injury and there are worries over the wellness of midfielder De Paul, who has played the entire competition in Qatar.

"They're getting along admirably. We will see them in preparing today to choose the line-up," said Scaloni, noticeably disappointed by reports that De Paul is nursing a hamstring issue.

"Recently we prepared in secret and I don't have the foggiest idea where this data comes from," he seethed.

"The fact of the matter is dependably that after a match there are players who train independently or do a portion of the meeting in light of the quantity of minutes played.

"Today we will go with the choice on how we need to move toward the match. That is truly significant."

Argentina face the Netherlands on Friday in a rehash of their 2014 semi-last conflict in Brazil, where the South Americans won on punishments following a 0-0 draw following 120 minutes.

The two nations have met five past times at the World Cup, remembering for the 1978 last, which Argentina won 3-1 after additional time. Argentina have never beaten the Dutch in an hour and a half.

"They kicked punishments yesterday. They generally stay on rehearsing punishments at preparing," said Scaloni.

"Everything revolves around karma when you get to a punishment shootout. I truly want to believe that we don't get to that and we dominate the match before that."

"Football now and again can be extremely lovely and some of the time it very well may be brutal," he added.

The Netherlands are unbeaten in 19 games since Louis van Gaal returned for a third spell in charge in August last year.

Van Gaal was likewise in control whe the Dutch tortuously passed up arriving at a fourth World Cup last.

Rather it was an Argentina group drove by Alejandro Sabella who exceptional prior to losing 1-0 to Germany in the last after additional time. Thursday checked two years to the day since Sabella's passing.

Sabella kicked the bucket in 2020 at 66 years old, under about fourteen days after the demise of Diego Maradona, following quite a while of fighting with malignant growth and heart issues.

"Today is a miserable day for us. This was an immense misfortune for Argentina due to all that he provided for us and the qualities he gave to us. I needed to help everybody to remember him," said Scaloni.

"We will give everything for this shirt to address our country. At the point when the game is over I truly trust we can be content with the outcome. Furthermore, if not, I trust individuals can relate to us."