Lionel Scaloni marks 7 years in charge of the Argentina national team | OneFootball

On September 7, 2018, just over two months after the defeat to France in the Round of 16 of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the process of Lionel Scaloni taking charge of the Argentine National Team began, in a friendly match against Guatemala at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California.

At that time, it was only a cycle that would serve the AFA as a transition to leave behind the era of Jorge Sampaoli and give way to an experienced coach, to face the Conmebol South American Qualifiers that would lead to Qatar 2022 and the Copa America of Brazil 2019 that was already on the horizon.

For such a commitment against the Central American team, Leo Scaloni opted for the following formation: Gerónimo Rulli; Renzo Saravia, Germán Pezzella, Ramiro Funes Mori and Nicolás Tagliafico; Exequiel Palacios, Leandro Paredes and Giovani Lo Celso; Cristian Pavón, Giovanni Simeone and Gonzalo Martínez.

It was 3 to 0 in favor of the albiceleste team with goals from Pity Martínez from a penalty, Gio Lo Celso and Gio Simeone, all in the first half. Indeed, in the second half, Santiago Ascacibar, Walter Kannemann, Franco Cervi, Franco Vázquez, Matías Vargas and Alan Franco came on.

Also, it is worth remembering that three days later, at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, they would face Colombia (0 to 0), a match for which Scaloni lined up: Franco Armani; Fabricio Bustos, Germán Pezzella, Ramiro Funes Mori and Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo Battaglia, Exequiel Palacios, Giovani Lo Celso, Gonzalo “Pity” Martínez and Maximiliano Meza and up front Mauro Icardi.

Lionel Scaloni acknowledged that he was working for whoever would be the coach

In the context of his debut as strategist of the Argentine National Team, it was clearly an interim. In fact, before the friendly match with Guatemala, he clarified that his work was aimed at starting a process that would be continued by the coach designated by the authorities of the Argentine Football Association.

”We come with new people, we had two training sessions. Our goal is to win, but without forgetting what we came to look for which is for these guys to wear the shirt, to show that they can play in the National Team. The result is important, but the most important thing is that they feel part of this new stage and that the future coach can count on many of them”, the Pujato native commented at a press conference. The rest is history.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.