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With Lionel Messi on the field, Lionel Scaloni from the bench, Argentina is in glory today.
The duo led the albiceleste to the three-time World Cup championship in Qatar 2022, a World Cup in which the communion between the players and their coach was key to victory.
The Argentines beat France on penalties 3(4)-3(2), in one of the best World Cup finals in recent times.
from the bank, Scaloni knew how to handle the pressure of seeing the French draw twice -one in regulation time and another in extra time- and guide his team until the last instance.
The approach of the 44-year-old coach was remarkable: for 80 minutes he kept France at bay, who had to resort to the magic of the goalscorer Kylian Mbappé to find the equalizers.
The “Staircase” she felt sick, but just at times like these, when a player looks to the bench for answers, there was Scaloni.
And with Messi having the best World Cup of his career, glory came to a coach who until not long ago was inexperienced, even belittled by Diego Armando Maradona.
That former player without a clear future
Scaloni had been retired for a year and felt an inner emptiness that was difficult to ignore.
In a year not far away like 2016, the former winger began to train Son Caliu, the amateur club in his neighborhood on the Spanish island of Mallorca, to train children and adolescents in soccer.
your compatriot Jorge Sampaoli, then Sevilla coach, saw something in him. He put him to work with the inferiors and then he joined the first team.
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Sampaoli opened the doors of the Argentine team to Scaloni.
But then the Argentine Football Association (AFA) called Sampaoli in search of solutions, since he was the third coach in the World Cup cycle and was appointed almost a year following the World Cup.
And with him, Scaloni became your rival analyst.
Things for Sampaoli’s Argentina did not work out well in Russia 2018, where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals and with news of an internal dispute between players and the coaching staff.
Waiting to find a replacement the AFA placed Scaloni in charge of the selection.
And the future for that coach without experience as the main technical director of a club or national team would be one of the most improbable.
The “Staircase”
Criticism was strong for Scaloni’s appointment.
even the legend Diego Armando Maradona He said at the time that with that coaching staff The only World Cup that Argentina would go to would be motorcycling, not soccer.
“Scaloni is a great boy, but he can’t direct the traffic,” said the historic Argentine goalscorer.
A reserved person with his feet on the ground, Scaloni heard all this, but chose not to answer. He mightn’t argue much regarding his lack of experience, as two years earlier he was still coaching the boys at his neighborhood club.
He opted for work and demonstrated it at the 2021 Copa América in Brazil. It was the start of the ‘Scaloneta’, as the team has been nicknamed ever since.
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The “Scaloneta” has been called to this team, a truck that does not stop winning.
He took the team to the final and, once morest the host and the main rival, Brazil, got the albiceleste lifted the continental title once more following 28 years of drought.
In the qualifying rounds for Qatar 2022, Argentina forgot regarding the bad results of past cycles and managed to 11 wins, six draws and zero losses.
He won the pass to the World Cup still with four games to play.
A team on and off the pitch
Unlike what happened in the past, Messi and company now look towards the bench and Come to one of yours.
To win a World Cup once more, as they had done in Mexico 1986, that was crucial. The team and the fans had blind faith in their coach.
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Scaloni made Messi play his best World Cup.
Rodrigo de Paul, the albiceleste midfielder, already stood out before the final “the conviction of things” they had with Scaloni and how they assimilated it.
“If now it is 10 in the morning and Scaloni tells us good night, for us it is night,” he said bluntly.
Although they started Qatar 2022 with an incredible loss to Saudi Arabia, the rest of the parties made it evident that the “Scaloneta” had a great unionforged over several years.
The young coach has only one rule when they are in concentration: all the players must sit at the same table and be able to look each other in the eye.
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Scaloni made Argentina regain confidence following seeing the French draw twice.
For those who know the internship that is generated in the albiceleste, such as former coach Lucho González, the coaching staff has been key in Qatar 2022.
“We have a coaching staff with Scaloni and other ex-soccer players like [Pablo] Aimar, [Roberto] Ayala and [Walter] Samuelthat many things happened with the Argentina shirt, they know what it represents and are able to pass it on“he told the BBC.
“And then we have a group that, it looks very clear, works with joy when together. We also have the best player in the world, but the team makes him feel good and it doesn’t depend only on him. That has been key to this process.”
It seemed logical that, possibly following many World Cup processes, the Argentines really believed that they might win the World Cup.
And with Messi in his best World Cup and a coach to trust, they succeeded: Argentina lifted their third World Cup.
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