From doubted to immortalised
Lionel Scaloni hardly ever shows emotion in the dugout. Whether his team scores a crucial goal or a spectacular one, he hardly moves a facial muscle, let alone unleash a joyous celebration like the ones you see from most coaches around the world. He sits there with a straight face, like a monk deep in meditation.
He only lets all those emotions flow once the target is achieved as we have seen a number of times in Qatar -- Scaloni hugging his players, crying with them and laughing.
From a tactician deeply engrossed in reading the opposition's strategy and working out his next moves, Scaloni suddenly becomes one of the players, giving them the assurance of a friend in guise of a guide and fellow warrior.
Now that warrior, that friend has guided Argentina to an elusive third World Cup, breaking a 36-year-drought -- becoming the youngest coach to win a World Cup title.
And this latest success comes on the back of two morale-boosting triumphs -- a first Copa America title in 28 years with a final win against Brazil last year followed by a smashing win in the Finalissima against European champions Italy.
No matter what happens next, Scaloni will certainly go down as one of the most iconic coaches coming out of South America, which seemed a long shot just four years ago when he was made the head coach following the country's disastrous World Cup campaign in Russia under Jorge Sampaoli.
As more illustrious names such as Mauricio Pochettino and Diego Simeone declined to take the job, the Argentine FA took a risk by giving Scaloni the full-time job. The decision was met with widespread opposition in his home country, not least from former players including Diego Maradona, who called the choice a crazy one.
The late Argentina icon had good reason to be skeptical though as Scaloni was very young, only 40 at the time, and crucially he did not have the profile either as a coach or former player to take charge of such a high-profile team. Or so it seemed.
A former national team wingback who made only seven appearances for his country, Scaloni had just two years of coaching experience as an understudy to Sampaoli – first at Sevilla and then with the Albiceleste – when he was entrusted with the job of rebuilding Argentina, a team at its zenith in terms of morale after the Russia World Cup and back-to-back final losses in Copa America.
He had to instill confidence in that team and the first thing he did was call up Lionel Messi and convince him to reverse his retirement. Scaloni had Juan Pablo Aimar and Walter Samuel in his coaching staff, both in the infancy of their coaching careers but good rapport with the current players. They also elevated Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to the No. 1 position, reaping massive rewards for their faith.
Apart from his man management skill, Scaloni has proved that he is on par with the best minds of the game, using the flexibility of his players to great effect by switching formation from game to game. The move to employ Angel di Maria on the left flank rather than his preferred right proved to be a masterstroke eventually, with the Juventus forward setting the tone for Argentina's victory by earning a spot kick and then scoring the second goal.
Argentina had their lapses, too, in this tournament – giving away two-goal advantages against both the Netherlands and France -- but then Scaloni's charges showed their strength of character and streetlight attitude to recover and win. This characteristic of the team is something not quite associated with Argentina teams of the past three decades.
After winning the Copa America last year, Scaloni said he had a talk with Messi as both of them started to believe in the team and believe they were building up to something truly significant. That belief culminated at the Lusail Iconic Stadium on Sunday night, and Scaloni was proud of himself and his charges.
"It wasn't in my plans to be world champion. It's madness," Scaloni said as he wiped away the tears after the final. "There is no bigger pride than representing your country and I hope we made our fans proud."