Lionel Scaloni has still not moved past the World Cup final. Every time he is asked about it, the same thing happens.
“Forming a group like this again, which is hard to recreate again, and it hurts my soul,” Scaloni said at his post-match press conference after the defeat to Spain.
He then rose from his chair and walked out of the room in tears.
Ferran Torres settled the final in the 106th minute of extra time at MetLife Stadium; Argentina had already been reduced to ten men. The 1-0 loss ended a defence of the trophy Scaloni’s side lifted in Qatar in 2022.
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“They were the better side”
Scaloni refused to point at any of it, not the officiating, not the calendar, not the second yellow card that thinned his midfield.
“They were the better side, that’s the truth,” he said in the same appearance. “We are gracious in victory, and we must be gracious in defeat. Today, we are showing that we know how to lose.”
He rejected the suggestion that Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic had cost Argentina the title, telling Bolavip his players had arrived at the final “battle-weary” from the knockout rounds while Spain looked fresher throughout.
A contract he had said he might not renew
For weeks after the final, Scaloni suggested he might walk away when his AFA deal expires in December.
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That has shifted this month.
Speaking to reporters at the AFA’s Ezeiza training complex on 24 September, Scaloni opened the door to an extension in talks with federation president Claudio Tapia.
“There is certainly a desire to be here, but there are a lot of aspects we need to discuss,” he said. “It’s a dream come true, but that doesn’t mean I have to cling to the job forever.”
The rebuild starts against Benin
Whatever he decides, the group Scaloni mourned at MetLife is already changing. He wants younger names integrated for the next cycle.
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“An important, exciting period begins, a time to trust these young players who are knocking on the door,” he told Argentine media as he began sketching the shape of the next Argentina side.
The handover has a date on it. Argentina host Benin at the Monumental in Buenos Aires on 6 October, in what is expected to be Lionel Messi’s farewell in an Argentina shirt.
“For me, getting to coach him was the ultimate experience. It was a dream,” Scaloni said of Messi this week. “There will never be anyone like him.”
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