‘We’re not robots’: Australian and Argentinian camps hit out over cramped World Cup scheduling

Australian defender Milos Degenek is joining a queue of critics blasting FIFA for the cramped World Cup schedule.

The Socceroos meet Argentina in a round of 16 encounter on Sunday morning at 6am (AEDT), just two days after their last game.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni has described the scheduling as “madness” and Degenek agrees.

“It’s something that FIFA need to consider, that we’re not robots, that we are humans,” Degenek said.

“And that we do need to recover and we can’t just play day after day.

“We need a break as well.”

The tight turnaround is compounded by the Doha heat, with temperatures at game-time rarely dipping below 30C.

But the Socceroos have a slight edge in recovery: they played their last game, a 1-0 win against Denmark, four hours before Argentina downed Poland 2-0.

That gives Lionel Messi’s world number three outfit no reward for finishing top of their group. The Australians finished second in theirs.

“I think it’s absolute madness to play in nearly two days and a bit when we are top of the group, I can’t understand it,” Scaloni said.

“Those aren’t good conditions but it’s the same for everyone.

“We’re first in the group. We could have had more rest.”

The Socceroos are in the knockout phase of a cup for just second time, following the 2006 achievement.

And Degenek said the team was fully focused on recovery rather than training.

“Not just me, especially the boys that played three in a row and they have the short turnaround now again,” he said.

“But they will recover. They will get back and they will be ready.”

What time is Australia v Argentina in the Qatar World Cup?

The round of 16 clash is scheduled to start at 6am AEDT. Join ABC Sport online at abc.net.au/sport as we blog the knockout game. SBS will broadcast the match live.

AAP

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