Scaloni and Aimar were walking on the beach in Valencia in July 2018, days after the World Cup in Russia, and began to build the Argentine team that would win the World Cup in Qatar 2022. The interim role turned into a historic cycle.
The Scaloneta did not emerge in a locker room or on a tactical board: it was born in the sand of the Mediterranean. It was July 2018, and Lionel Scaloni and Pablo Aimar, both in Valencia coaching the under-20 team in the L'Alcudia tournament, received the proposal to take charge of the Argentine national team after the chaos of the World Cup in Russia. They accepted without hesitation and, hours later, went for a walk along the shore to start outlining the team that is now world champion.
From the chaos of Russia to the third star
Argentina had just come from a frustrating World Cup: eliminated in the round of 16 by France, with a broken locker room and internal disputes. Scaloni and Aimar, however, saw an opportunity in that disaster. "When everything was nothing, the beginning," goes the song by Vox Dei. And so it was. The third star began to take shape in that black hole that seemed to devour everything, even the hope of seeing Messi happy in the albiceleste.
Scaloni accepted the interim role without pressure: "The kid who debuts now, let him put on the shirt and try not to take it off again," he said in his first press conference. Nobody took him seriously then, but that phrase set the course. Players like Paredes, Lo Celso, and Palacios appeared in those first lists and never left.
Leadership without flashes and a key hug
Scaloni, who had lived in Mallorca and coached kids at a school on the island, demonstrated from the outset an uncommon leadership style: that of primus inter pares, the first among equals. He did not seek the spotlight; he shared it with Aimar, Martín Tocalli, and Matías Manna. In his second match as coach, in the same stadium where Argentina would lose the final of the 2026 World Cup to Spain, a relative of Paulo Dybala criticized the coaching staff for not fielding the Córdoba player. Scaloni, far from getting angry, hugged the player on camera and resolved the conflict. "If there is an important virtue in managing a group, it is the ability to solve internal problems quickly," he later explained.
He also received public criticism from Eduardo Coudet, who called it a "lack of respect" for Scaloni to be the national team coach. Rather than escalating, Scaloni called Coudet and resolved the matter privately. "All sorted," he said. This ability to defuse conflicts quietly became a hallmark of his tenure.
Six matches that changed history
Scaloni and Aimar thought their time with the national team would last only six friendly matches. But after each game, they left breadcrumbs. After the first, Scaloni declared: "We know how to defend, we know how to suffer." At the end of the last one, when a journalist asked him how he evaluated his management, his voice broke and he left the interview to cry alone. It was 2018. No one imagined that this crying was the prelude to glory in Qatar 2022.
Today, the Scaloneta is a symbol of perseverance and teamwork. And it all started with two guys walking on a beach in Valencia, reciting names as if memorising for a final exam. As the Rebels from the Star Wars sing: "A new hope."
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