Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni defends refereeing

Scaloni says refereeing decisions had 'nothing to do' with Argentina's defeat to Saudi Arabia.

The Argentina coach was speaking after his team's shock 2-1 loss in their opening game of the World Cup.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni has defended the refereeing decisions in his team's shock 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening game of the World Cup.

Scaloni said the referee, Slavko Vincic, made the correct decisions and that Argentina's defeat was due to their own mistakes.

"The refereeing decisions had nothing to do with the defeat," Scaloni said. "We made mistakes and we paid for them."

Argentina took the lead in the 10th minute through a Lionel Messi penalty, but Saudi Arabia came back to win with goals from Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari.

Scaloni said Argentina were "not good enough" in the second half and that they "need to improve" if they want to progress in the tournament.

"We need to learn from our mistakes and move on," Scaloni said. "We have two more games to play and we need to win both of them."

Argentina's next game is against Mexico on Saturday.