Sampaoli admits there are bigger challenges ahead

Jorge Sampaoli praised Argentina's application and work ethic in the 6-0 friendly thrashing of Singapore, while acknowledging far greater tasks lie ahead.

Argentina followed their 1-0 win over rivals Brazil in Australia last Friday, Sampaoli's first at the helm, by taking apart woefully overmatched opponents at the Singapore National Stadium.

The former Chile and Sevilla boss sent out his team in an unusual 2-3-4-1 formation and it was one of the two defenders, Federico Fazio, who opened the scoring before Joaquin Correa doubled the Albiceleste advantage before half-time.

Angel Di Maria and Lucas Alario, along with debutants Alejandro Gomez and Leandro Paredes also got in on the act, leaving their coach content at his post-match news conference.

"I am grateful and thankful for the willingness the players have had – the great willingness to take on a new idea and carry it out," Sampaoli said.

"The games were two very different games, with two very different rivals with different characteristics. So what I value most is that the players gave all their effort to play a great game, despite having the game almost sorted in the first half, with great intensity.

"For me, that is a good start for everything that is to come. The team had great conviction throughout the 90 minutes of the games, despite being in firm control."

[SELECCIÓN MAYOR] Postales de la victoria de @Argentina ante Singapur. pic.twitter.com/SRSyMoNYNy

— Selección Argentina (@Argentina) 13 de junho de 2017

Argentina return to competitive action with a pivotal World Cup qualifying double-header against Uruguay and Venezuela in August and September and Sampaoli added: "What is coming is totally different from what happened today.

"In such a short time the willingness of the players has allowed us to get closer to the people so that when we face tougher games we aren't just 25 people but a lot more, especially against the likes of Uruguay, which will pave the way for our qualification to the next World Cup."