“We know we’ll give it our all on the pitch. We know football can sometimes be beautiful and sometimes it can be brutal.”
Scaloni would also not draw on whether he would prefer to play arch-rivals Brazil or Croatia in the semi-finals if Argentina win, and said he still thinks the tournament is wide open.
“It’s a very, very thin line,” he said. “We can’t really tell who are the favorites and who can win it. We are talking about evenly matched national teams.”
In the two previous World Cup meetings between Argentina and the Netherlands, in the group stage in 2006 and a semi-final in 2014 which the Albiceleste won on penalties, neither side was able to score in normal or extra time.
Scaloni said Argentina were practicing spot-kicks but hoped the match would not go to a shootout.
“They always take penalties before and after the match, but when it comes to penalty shootouts, it’s all about luck,” he added.
“I hope we don’t reach the penalty shootout, we hope the match ends before that.”