Lionel Scaloni: “I need to think about what I am going to do about my future.”

By
Roy Nemer
-
59

Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni held a press conference after Argentina’s World Cup qualifying match where he said that he will think about his future.

Lionel Scaloni has won every trophy there is to win with the Argentina national team. And after Argentina’s 1-0 win vs. Brazil in the World Cup qualifiers, Scaloni stated that he will think about what he is going to do.

“I need to think about what I am going to do. The national team needs a coach who has all the energy. The bar is high. I’m going to think about what I am going to do.”

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59 Comments

  1. I think it is not difficult to guess why he has said so. He has built this team which is now like his family. He has great relationship with Messi, Tagliafio, Acuna, Otamendi, Di Maria, Paredes. But the defeat in the hand of Uruguay has shown to Scaloni that the day has come when he needs to tell them to go. It is time to build a new team with younger players like he did in 2018. But other than Di Maria no one has set any target date for themselves. Scaloni does not want to bite that bullet because of the bond he shares. So, being a sharp coach and a great human being, he has taken a perfect decision for himself. He can only stay if some of the older folks come forward, iron it with him and plan for a respectable exit. Otherwise, we should be prepared to bid him adieu. The fact that Otamendi spoke about this and not any of the younger ones like Enzo also gives us an hint towards his catch22 situation. Or may be someone sits with him and the concerned players and chalk out a smooth plan which mixes youth with experience in an amicable way.

  2. Quite unfortunate to see some people calling Scaloni selfish after all he has done for the team. He achieved everything a top coach would dream of. There are several probable scenarios that might be pressuring him to resign. First is maybe relationship with Tapia as hinted by TYC, secondly is maybe urge to start introducing new faces and replace some old players. I have said it again some of these players will have to be replaced at some point. Especially now there is a shortage of wingers. Replacing players like Otamedi, Paredes, DePaul, Acuna, Tagliafico*Messi,will be a toll order. Depending on 4-5 players who will past 34-36 to represent the NT will be detrimental at major tournaments.
    I am one those who was disappointed with the team selection especially inclusion of Armani, and not giving chance to young players like Soule. Being a coach of such high profile players is stressful especially when they are advanced in age.
    Today’s match highlighted need of having wingers.

    Lastly if his decision is due to greener pastures offer, I would be very disappointed. Otherwise it’s high time Scaloni and AFA had a candid conversation on the future of the team. Things won’t be rosy always.

  3. Everybody needs to calm down and relax, ARG just beat Brazil in a WCQ, their EVER FIRST LOSS AT HOME, 15 points in the bag, still the WC CHAMPS and #1 ranking and the next round of WCQs are next year if I’m not mistaken.
    So Scaloni is not sure about his future, he was few months ago when he signed an extension until next WC, so what changed? one lousy loss to Uruguay?
    I wonder why he made his thoughts public NOW! but be that as it may, winning a back to back WC is extremely hard especially with half the team is already of age and lets face it, MESSI is not going to play in 2026.
    Job accomplished ARG and Messi won everything that needs to be won and nobody keeps winning forever…..get that thought out of your minds.

  4. Some things I Don’t understand properly:Why Scaloni said that he is in procrastination whether he continue or not,why all of you (mundo members)don’t focus on the earlier issue which has been seen all over the world,Fifa should consider this factor stringently.

  5. From Day1 I supported Scaloni. I hope he will stay.
    It will be difficult to keep winning after you won every major trophies available there.
    Motivation level is reducing, players getting old, form of the main players are alarming. This could happen after a WC trophy win. See what happened to Germany..!

    We need to overcome that.
    Old players must retire and give a way to young hard working players. There should be young integration slowly whether they are better than old players or not. They can only improve and old will be declining over the time. Hopefully players will be back to their best during Copa.

    If Scaloni resign, I respect. I am very happy for him. He gave us a WC 🏆.
    Any top coaches available..? It will be very tough for a new coach just before the Copa.
    I vote for Aimar and Co..👍

  6. Calling Scaloni selfish is very stupid and selfish from the posters. You people have put an expectation on his chest that he must defend the WC. On top of that Messi must be part of the team in ’26. It’s obvious that to do that first he needs to lose the Copa and then Messi, Di Maria, Otamendi, RDP, Paredes, Tagliafico, Pezella, Armani, Montiel, Lo Celso must accept reality of not being starters but helpers or resign voluntarily. Then he has to build a team for WC ’26 through WCQs with new players. I believe he will see out his contract unless the Copa campaign is disastrous. But I feel good with Aimar in charge, should Scaloni the Great resign prematurely.

    • Hahaha. They would not accept a foreign coach. And neither will they spend the money to afford him. All the money made from the World Cup has already been converted into sports cars for corrupt AFA officials and jewelry for their mistresses.

  9. I think it is very understandable. Deschamps had and still has the motivation because he has an embarrassment of talent just flooding in. For Scaloni, it is in stark contrast he is struggling to find proper replacements and options in more than one position. Think about our front line. Lautaro has only one goal in his last 18 matches, he just won’t make the bench on an average team with that statistics (he can score a thousand goals for Inter, but it not valid here), but Argentina simply doesn’t have quality options either in Europe or in local league. For all the effort Arfentina put in making Garnacho represent us, we could have put some in convincing Santi Gimenez. Same goes for the playmaker and Right and Left backs. Molina has been horrendous back to back, Foyth should be given a look in again.

    • ” Lautaro has only one goal in his last 18 matches, he just won’t make the bench on an average team with that statistics (he can score a thousand goals for Inter, but it not valid here)”

      Messi only scored 16 goals after 65 caps for Argentina. He didnt start to bang regularly until Sabella came in. Di Maria and Otamendi are another players that has been written out at some point, and they recovered their top form at the national team in recent years. Both of them were terrible during 2017-2019. Mind you, Aguero only scored a single goal throughout 2018 qualifier, and he played 10+ matches. Do you really think Aguero isnt top player because of that goal drought in national team?

      Lautaro had 7 goals + 3 assists in WC qualifier , 1 goal + 1 assist at Finalissima, 3 goals at Copa America (including two at KO stage). I believe he and Julian just need to put away one of their chances, and they’ll recover their true form.

  10. That was a very selfish move by Scaloni. He could have waited for fans and team to finish celebrating the historic win. Instead he threw all that away to make it about him. Not good at all, not good. The news itself is unbelievable and could change everything including plunging Argentina back to the mediocrity that existed before his arrival. Federation must move very fast, secure signature promise from Simeone if Scaloni leaves. Team is on top of its game and he chooses to do this, just unbelievable.

    • There’s rumor circulating that Scaloni didnt want to risk the player and their family safety after the chaos, but Tapia insisted they had to play the game regardless.

      • Tapia was right on this one, Argentina HAD to play. Messi said he brought the team to the locker room to calm things down. And if that was in fact the reason why, and I doubt it was, then it was brilliant. Faced with the real possibility of the game actually being canceled everybody involved got their act together very quickly. The situation calmed down. At that stage there absolutely was no reason for Argentina not to play. We’re talking about the reigning World Cup Champions and it would have been a catastrophe, including for Argentina own standing in the world, not to play even AFTER the situation has calmed. Tapia was right, they had to play. If that’s the reason for Scaloni to leave then he can leave, a replacement will take over. Hope Tapia does not screw up the selection, look at Brazil, gotta be very careful.

  11. We don’t want to lose him. Yes, I also criticised him about team selection but don’t want to leave him. He is great and already shows us what he can do. We are blessed with him. Don’t leave us Scaloni.

  12. It is an ugly win indeed . Dibu delayed time always ,referee should give yellow card to our players but none of them received. Actually the red card is overly strict. Of course Lo celso should earn a penalty . All in all I think the referee is very bad on ruling both sides .

    This match is unconvincing when comparing with uruguay . At the same time brazil isn’t in their best formation . Our team must improve to keep on moving.

  13. Let him go.He did some amazing deeds with this fragile team;but,now Argentina need someone who is either more cognitive than him or as proactive as scaloni.Scaloni is a real gentlemen, but at same time he is lucky too.If K.muani got a goal in the last extra minute then it was all over.

    • Yes ,Scaloni is very lucky .but winning world cup you still need some luck . Some people may think last year we are lucky to reward so many penalty .To be honest ,personally I think several are overly strict .perhaps it is luck but the final is convincing .However I don’t think this team is the best in history .

  14. We can loose 2-0 today if Martineni put it in early second half, same with the Uruguay’s game, but this Brazil team had no class, no fear factor when they didn’t have the likes of Neymar, Vinicius (not there yet, but he’s dangerous if in-form); and previously Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Kaka, Carlos, Ronandinho.
    We only had one chance and converted. I am surpirse we didn’t talk much about the penalty that Le Celso would have got; this may consider as our second chance.

    Le Celso is class no doubt! I still believe we would have won the Wc much easier with Le Celso

    • Yup Lo Celso is the only proper midfielder. He is ball player and a ball winner. Even exhibits the occasional magical touch and ball control. If only he was not so fragile.

      Enzo and MacAllister are close to useless in defense.

      Paredes is great at the odd desperate tackle but can’t make a good forward pass to save his life.

      De Paul is extremely error prone and getting worse every year.

    • Our midfield was mediocre due to Brazilian high pressing and fouls and which is why our forwards received no service whatsoever while they wasted all their chances.

  15. Shattered to know that he does not have the ambition of doing something that no other coach has done. He also virtually admits that the team might have also lost the appetite. Let’s fasten our seat belt for a jerky 2024 unless Tapia does some magic of bringing in another good, young and energetic coach with great team building skills. The win against Brazil has now left a sad taste in the mouth with this statement of his. He proves that he does not have a hunger like Deschamps. But thanks to him for giving us multiple moments to cherish and remember.

    • But he really DID NOT have to do that, leave a bad taste on such a historical day. And could literally have waited a few days, let everybody enjoy. Him throwing that bomb like that was selfish. He gave to Argentina but Argentina gave him a lot too and that hat was unfortunate, his bomb. Let players, let fans, enjoy.

  17. It’s sad to hear that Scaloni is thinking of leaving but I honestly can’t blame him because there is no way he could top what he has already done. NO. WAY!
    Leaving the team before copa is worrisome and we really don’t need another Tata—>Bauza—>Sampaoli musical chairs type of instablility. If Scaloni does end up leaving I do hope that the Ayala—-Samuel—–Aimar trio remain and continue the work but if Scaloni does end up in the mid-east and takes those 3 with him then maybe Ricardo Gareca is an option considering he’s contracted with Velez till the end of 2023 and the guy has shown that he can do so much with so little during his time with Peru.

  18. Without Gallardo available, I would pick Gustavo Alfaro. He coached Ecuador at the last WC and seems a sensable guy.

    • No too defensive, Martin Demichelis will be wise choice since scaloni and his coaching Staff are tied together
      I mean aimar will be better but I think they will stick together and coaching them together wherever they go if they decide to leave

  19. I am very calm to watch ,since we had won the world cup ,the dream came true already . Now I really want to see how to evolve .Any new faces or new formation prepared for future .especially without messi ,di Maria. it is impossible to win every match but it is possible to keep on moving .Let’s see what happen next year .

  20. Scaloni is very clever, it is impossible to win the world cup twice consecutively.At least none in history. Also the team needs to recruit new faces for next few years but it seems to be difficult to cut any players from current team . Messi ,Di maria will retire soon which make the team even more difficult to keep on winning .

    Look at our U23 under mascherano ,not too many players are qualified for national team . lastly coaching in europe may earn lots of money which AFA can’t afford . If I were scaloni ,I will quit and go to Europe. winning the world cup and copa america make him the best in Argentina history . Fans don’t want to see argentina lost in 2026 .So it is the time to left ,giving fans the best memory .

    For me ,I don’t think the team will be affected too much since it’s team work . We have aimar ,Samuel,Ayala ,Placente as a team .Any one of the above can take up the job .Or AFA can recruit from local league . for example Demichellis .

    It is the best time to emerge a new team for future . as long as the whole system unchanged ,I don’t see any problems at all

        • Why? People forget, Scaloni was on Sampaoli staff. I doubt if any of his assistants is offered the job they’ll say no. It’s a very very good step to a lucrative career like Scaloni is about to have soon. No, I don’t think they’re all will necessarily leave.

      • I have a feeling that if Aimar takes over, Argentina will be the same but will become an offensive juggernaut. I still insist that the play before Di Maria final goal reminds of how Pablito would influence play with his speedy passing and off the ball movementin his prime.

        • I’m really rooting for that type of change for Argentina, one we have not seen in a long time. I remember Argentina teams that created a lot and routinely scored 3 goals minimum. Brazil would have lost 3-0 or may be 3-1 yesterday. I like Scaloni a lot and thankful for what he’s brought tho him not waiting a few days, let people celebrate a bit, was i think selfish. You’d think that historique game never happened ‘cause the bomb he threw made HIM, Scaloni, the subject and not the team and the win. The best think other than Simeone would be for one of his assistants to take over.

  23. A win against Brazil is always welcome, but what an ugly graceless performance. Almost no chances created from open play even against a 10-man Brazil B-team. No style. No substance. No passion. This was not La Nuestra.

    It is good Scaloni has expressed some doubt, whatever the reason. I hope the fat crooks at AFA and the players themselves spend some time in reflection about the future.

    • Right, we’ll said. That has never really be a force for Scaloni. Being denied the ball by a 10 men team is crazy fr. I remember seeing such a thing but in reverse and I never forgot the scene. This was Barcelona (Messi, Neymar and Suarez Barcelona) against Athletico Madrid and Madrid was able to a) defend and b) threaten Barcelona and actually create more chance. Simeone. He’s an unbelievable Coach and I hope against hope that he could take over after Copa America. It’s against hope because those men in suits usually put their interest first, sometimes it works like with Scaloni, most of the time it doesn’t at all like with the othe ones before or like what’s going on in Brazil.

  24. Congrats to Scaloni & team.Todays lineup is gud in such an high intense game. I think if he deployed this lineup against uruguay we hve better chance agaist tht match also. Lo celso need more matches. If he is fit fully he can create more in centre.

  27. It’s look like scaloni is off , I don’t blame him at all what more he could achieve he won it all for Argentine. I’m his biggest supporter and forever grateful if he decides to leave

  28. He has won everything an international coach can ever win! When someone has achieved everything it is normal to not have the same energy, determination and motivation to keep going and same goes to many of our players. They played with such intensity and cohesion and won the world cup, it is almost impossible to play again with same intensity and determination and it was evident in the last two matches. I would not be surprised if he resigns before our next friendly in March! If he doesn’t then he might be planning to quit together with Messi and Dimaria after the Copa. However they will leave the team in good hands with good combination of experience and youth but after the two intense matches, it is clear that we need to phase out few old players and inject young blood otherwise we wont win the next COPA. French were extremely fortunate they had most of their 2018 side injuried otherwise they would have crashed out early due to lack of motivation and determination. I don’t want Scaloni to leave but he will have to rebuild this team and with Messi hanging his boots after COPA I feel like he doesn’t have the mental energy left to start from almost scratch and do it all over again after winning everything! If he is planning to Saudi then he absolutely deserves that fat pay cheque! Go for it Scaloni!

    • Departing prior to Copa would be too disruptive. i just don’t see him leaving before.

      Although it’s understandable, it’s damn shame Gallardo went for a paycheck instead of career development in Europe. I hope Scaloni doesn’t follow.

    • As per the rumours from tyc sports Argentina coaching team took their last picture together today. Another rumor is that Scaloni is unhappy with Tapia and AFA ! Or Saudi must have approached him which is a big possibility. Theu would want to have a world cup winning coach. But with Gallardo is gone too, who will take over now! With Messi and Scaloni leaving another Golden period of Argentina futbal is approaching its end.

  29. He will probably go to Saudi and I don’t blame him for chasing money. He knows that his cycle is over and wants to quit on good term. Hire Marcelo Biselse, Simone, Gallardo, or Gallardo.

  31. WHAT AN UGLY GAME!!! but 🙂 that’s 3 points in the bag, beating Brazil on their own soil! forget about it. 15 points & #1 while they’re 5th with 7 points.
    I got home and turned on the TV as Messi was waving his teammates off and I was like, “NOW WHAT??” but now after I know what has taken place, GREAT MOVE BOSS.

    I MUST Say and I thought I would “NEVER” say that or even think it, but most of the calls went ARG’s way in BRaziL????!! who died??

    I don’t know what Scaloni is talking about, of course the job needs energy and longevity, nm a WC CHAMPION team with Messi….did you see the Poor Brazilian coach???? his eyes were about to pop outta of their sockets.

    THIS was a great win, ugly, pretty, I don’t give a damn, especially since the team looked shaken after what transpired and a wave of fouls that never ended.

    • Oh wait wait wait, was this Brazil’s first ever loss at home in a qualifier???
      Records are meant to be broken 😉

      BTW, Otamendi more than made up for that goal he gifted Uruguay.

  32. He must be sick of all the people criticizing him after he has done all that can be expected. Especially those who keep clamoring for YOUNG BLOOD and saying that our entire team (to remind: Won Copa America, Finallissima, World Cup, ranked #1 in the world, leads qualifications) needs to be liquidated and replaced with Soule, Valentin, Garnacho, etc.

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