Australia and Argentina criticize FIFA over World Cup schedule

• Both teams will have a three-day break before the 1/8 final game.
• “We are not robots, we need to recover,” says Milos Degenek.

Australia and Argentina have criticized FIFA for scheduling the last 16 matches three days after the final games of the World Cup group stage, stating that due to the short break they are treated like "robots" by the players.

Argentina vs fifa 

Argentina have even less time to recover as they played a 2-0 victory over Poland at 10pm - four hours after Australia's game against Denmark - in a situation that their coach Lionel Scaloni called "crazy".
At the 2018 World Cup, teams that qualified for the play-offs were given at least four days between their last group game and the last 16.
“How can a FIFA organization [do this] in such a prestigious tournament,” said Socceroos assistant coach René Meulenstine. “Four-day turnovers were already short, and after the group stages, they become even shorter. If you want a quality game in the World Cup, you wonder if they could have done it a little differently.
“It's the same with the other team, I must say. But we don't have much time to think about it all. It's recovery, recovery and preparation of their brains for this challenge."
Both teams played their three group matches four days apart as part of Qatar's shortened 2022 schedule of 29 days, three short of what was used to host the 2018 tournament and in Brazil four years earlier.
The usual 32-day, five-day schedule was unavailable due to a compromise FIFA made with European leagues and clubs when it moved the tournament to the middle of their domestic seasons to avoid Qatar's oppressive summer heat.
The unusual period from November to December also means that clubs did not release their players until the week before the first match, a significant decrease from the extended training that was previously provided to national teams.

Why Australia unleashed a conflict with FIFA 

In 2018, Australia spent more than a month in pre-tournament camp in Turkey before taking a short flight to Russia five days before their first match against France.
This time some of them played for their clubs less than seven days before the opening matches of the World Cup. The unique circumstances have prompted Fifpro International Players Union to warn that the accumulated workload – along with hot conditions – creates an unprecedented risk of injury.
“FIFA must take into account that we are not robots, we are human and that we need to recover,” said defender Milos Degenek. “That we can’t just play day after day. And not only me, [it] especially the boys who played three times in a row, they have a short break again.”
Scaloni was also critical after a late Wednesday win that confirmed Argentina's progress as Group C winners and set up a meeting with Group D runners-up Australia.
"Today we are happy but not euphoric because it's crazy that we've only been playing for two days," he said. “I can't understand it. It's almost one in the morning, tomorrow is Thursday. We could rest more.
“I want to clarify that it seems wrong to me that we have only two and a half days of rest after we took first place in the group. These conditions are not the best."
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