Interim propelled to the controls of Argentina, Lionel Scaloni became world champion, offering the Albiceleste its 3rd star. Enough to make him go from shadow to light forever.
Being compared to the simple driver of a bus where supporters, at first suspicious, would be invited to board over success sums up the unexpected trajectory of this former international defender, ex-assistant of Jorge Sampaoli at the 2018 World Cup, to which he succeeded after the competition. Because it took Scaloni (44), a native of Rosario like Lionel Messi, to convince the skeptics and especially the stars of the selection before establishing himself as the third technician to guide Argentina on the roof of the world after César Luis Menotti (1978) and Carlos Bilardo (1986).
“Not able to make traffic”
This former side with 7 selections between 2003 to 2006, by his own admission a player “accustomed to dark tasks“, had never been a head coach at a club before his advent. He has just been extended until 2026.”He can’t even make traffic“, had also struck the legend Diego Maradona in the press.
“His way of communicating, of treating the players, of setting up, is really his, he knows how to prepare matches well, he reads them well“, defended Messi.
A mix of Menotti and Bilardo
Humble, discreet, studious, reputed to be close to the players who appreciate him, Scaloni, 44, managed to bring back on the path to success an Argentina who had not won since 1993, with three trophies in the space of a year and a half: first the Copa América 2021, then the “Finalissima”, gala match against Italy, European champions in the summer of 2022 (3-0), and finally the apotheosis of a world title sunday. All while developing a rather slender game and keeping his team undefeated for 36 consecutive matches, one length from Italy’s record (2018-2021).
For some, Scaloni brings together the tactical abilities of Menotti and the pragmatism of Bilardo. And even the defeat against Saudi Arabia (2-1) at the start of the World Cup did not deviate from its trajectory, despite the concern of an entire country. At most he has expanded the line of attackers with Julian Alvarez.
His destiny was written: Sunday at the Lusail stadium, Scaloni accomplished what neither Menotti nor Bilardo had achieved before him: a Copa America-World Cup double. A simple bus driver, really?
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