Lionel Scaloni was an assistant coach at the 2018 World Cup when Argentina exited in the Round of 16 after being humiliated by France. On Sunday, Scaloni paid off the old scores after his team, led by Lionel Messi, crushed the French side in a thrilling final and lifted the World Cup title for the third time.
Messi scored two goals and then another in a shootout as Argentina beat France 4-2 on penalties after their match ended in a 3-3 draw.
With this win, Scaloni has joined the league of all-time Argentina coaching greats alongside former World Cup winners Cesar Luis Menotti and Carlos Bilardo.
At 44, Scaloni was the youngest manager at Qatar.
He took charge of Argentina in 2018 amid criticism that he was not experienced enough to coach a national team. “He’s a great lad but he can’t even direct traffic. How can you give the national team to Scaloni? Are we all mad?,” late football legend Diego Maradona had complained.
However, Scaloni proved the critics wrong and has been an unheralded success in the top job.
He brought a 35-game unbeaten run to Qatar that included ending a long wait for a Copa America last year. Since their 2-0 defeat to Brazil in 2019, Argentina had never lost to any team until they were stunned by Saudi Arabia in their opening match at Qatar.
Scaloni succeeded in surrounding Messi with a midfield that lets him flourish. Eventually, the national team became the Scaloneta – his national team.
“The World Cup’s youngest coach has not come from nowhere. It is there in the personality and the preparation. A simplicity, a directness about him which friends link to a chacarero culture: a farming lifestyle. Which he does too, in fact,” writes Sid Lowe in the Guardian.
He had no doubt about Messi's status as the greatest of all time. "It seems like we say that just because we're Argentinians and we fall into the trap of being selfish because it is very Argentinian to say that," Scaloni had said after the semifinal match against Croatia.