Nobody believed in the coaching band, not even Maradona.
Luis Cesar Menotti – godfather of the team
World Champion Menotti is 84 years old but goes back to work. But when Umberto Grandona, the son of the obnoxious Argentine football boss, Julio, nine years ago appointed himself head coach of the youth academy, and then the youth team, they put an end to Argentina. But Driussi and young Simeone won the America’s Youth Cup without a coach.
The talents have always been there, many of Scaloni’s technical staff are two-time world champions. In 1997 Samuel and Aimar, supported by Cambiasso, Riquelme and Placente, defeated the Uruguayans in the final. And Scaloni scored against Brazil in the playoffs. But the flowering of Argentine football, even before the plagues of the Grandona clan, was provided by Menotti.
Luis made Argentina their first in 1978 without Maradona, and has been working as the national team coach since February 2019, although he is twice as old as some of his colleagues. Menotti was the one who repulsed the attacks on Scaloni. Lionel had only the experience of an assistant. At one of the press conferences he was asked if the coach has a license or is he a scammer?
The Argentine responded adequately: he said that he received documents in Spain, where he lives with his family. For a year he was Sampaoli’s assistant at Sevilla. Then, together with Jorge, he lost to France 3: 4 world Cup-eighteen. The coach left, but the assistant stayed. Menotti had to explain at length and stubbornly that the bronze medal at the 2019 America’s Cup was not a failure.
Cesar insisted that Lionel fit into the team. It rarely happens when a world champion and master is so kind to the little pot-bellied stuff. Culturally it is impossible to make it clear that in Argentina there was talk of the president of the Football Federation, Claudio Tapia, who chose Scaloni. Now everyone pretends to believe, but pages on the Internet do not burn. Here is an assessment of Maradona:
This guy, Scaloni, is not to blame for his nomination. But he felt like a coach and will go to the World Cup. With him you can go to the motorcycle World Cup, not the football one. How to name it, giving Martino to the Mexicans?
We are not sure if Maradona spoke soberly, but we recall the remark about motorcycle racing – an important nuance. Diego drank before his death, mixed psychotropic substances with alcohol, but sober critics also attacked Scaloni. And grandfather in jeans and a simple T-shirt stood up for everyone – world champion Luis Cesar Menotti.
He went to Lionel’s defenders, because he won the tournament at the age of 39, he remembers very well how much his talents were questioned and criticized. Now his pupil Scaloni is the second young coach, World Cup winner and the first in the twenty-first century.
Aimar, Samuel, Ayala and Aguero – lieutenants
Three in office and one as personal psychologist, godfather and friend of Messi. Sergio settled in the same number with the “ten”, did not allow a limp, and then became a brilliant participant in the victory celebration in an Otamendi T-shirt, which is symbolic, given the experience of Nicholas who almost gave the victory to the French.
But not only Aguero is important. There is Mauro Dobler – goalkeeping coordinator. Not a goalkeeper coach like Tocalli, but when Scaloni decided to leave the Sampaoli staff man, two specialists looked for a new goalkeeper. When Armani missed four from the Frenchman, Martinez was not thought of.
Guzman and Caballero sat on the national team bench, like Dibo at Arsenal. Only in 2021, the Argentine headquarters trusted the future hero of America and the World Cup. In addition, two well-known defenders from Serie A and Sarri in the past, Samuel and Ayala, have had a great influence, they need no introduction.
More than Ayala, only Di Maria, Zanetti, Mascherano and Messi have played in Argentina. The defenders went on the defensive. Having short players, we set standards on our goals and those of others, focusing on the change of tactics, from three to duo, and on the composition of defenders without losing control of the line.
Impressive work, given the personnel changes in the center and on the flanks. As soon as Paredes did not suit Qatar already, they rewrote the plan, released young Fernandez and McAllister, and De Paul changed his role, because not only Messi’s bodyguard. But Lionel could tell Pablo Aimar.
Playmaker and childhood idol Messi failed to fully realize his talent on the pitch. But together with prominent physical training coaches – Barrios and Martin, and analyst Manna, the hedgehog Pablo proved to all of Argentina and the world that the whole football country doubted them in vain.
Scaloni is the most comfortable garment for Messi’s namesake
Let’s not lie that Scaloni became Bielsa after winning the World Cup. And he didn’t become Guardiola in the coaching class. At the same time, Lionel is the ideal coach for this team. Messi will confirm that for the first time in his career he was in his home team in comfortable conditions.
It’s not just a tactical question, he was always under pressure off the pitch too. Remember Maradona’s statement about Lionel’s diarrhea. Diego said the “Scaloni boy” could not be trusted to regulate traffic, but the coach proved otherwise in Qatar. The final was better planned than Deschamps.
Aimar, Samuel and Scaloni have known each other since childhood, when they first appeared in the youth academy. They were world champions and they have become world champions again. A beautiful story, and the modesty of each one can be seen. They were a single organism on the edge, they were wrong, but they recognized it.
Everyone from the chef who deliciously prepared the favorite meat brought to Qatar, to Scaloni assured Messi’s comfort. Lionel didn’t panic. Injured in the road, even useful, passive Messi loses more often. Hand tried to break a colleague PSGbut experience won on penalties.
Scaloni is now in the pantheon alongside Menotti and Bilardo. Messi and Di Maria have a third star on their chests. Perhaps Lionel and Angel are in vain stayed on the team – it’s better to leave at the peak after the championship, when they take it in their hands, but for now, Argentina Scaloni, you can believe in the youth and the future of the team.
Grandona got behind the wheel of Argentine football in 1979, was re-elected nine times and got into everyone’s liver. But the natural talent of the players prevailed, right up to the vice president fifa finally did not slip into corruption to Blatter’s right. Only death saved Grandon from trial.
Four years later, the new executives had the good sense not to remove Scaloni and wait a couple of years. In football everything can change one or two saves, but it all magically turned out. Scaloni, his staff and Menotti deserved the title. Now Messi is loved in Argentina without reservations.
And in Scaloni they saw an adequate coach who did not imagine himself a god after a historic victory in the America’s Cup after 26 years of waiting. And the country has been waiting for the World Cup for 36 years. Scaloni has lost his arrogance with age, it helped. When reminded of Maradona’s wild criticisms, the coach replied like this:
I think it’s still here. I hope Diego enjoyed watching the ending in heaven.
Argentina is now unlikely to become the first if Scaloni died on April 9, 2019. The coach was cycling to his sick parents, he was hit by a car. That’s why Maradona spoke of “motorcycle racing” and “traffic controller”. The great Diego was a master of insults, subtext and trash talk.
Scaloni then fell on his head, smashed his face badly and injured his neck. His Spanish wife Eliza and two young sons Ian and Noah were very lucky not to lose their husband and father. But since this is a fairy tale by genre, one of the main characters in her survived and became world champion.
