On September 7, 2018, Lionel Scaloni coached the Argentina national team for the first time in a 3-0 win against Guatemala.
In 2018, Lionel Scaloni was hired by the AFA as interim coach of the Argentina national team. His first match in charge was against Guatemala at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California.
This was the starting eleven:
Gerónimo Rulli; Renzo Saravia, Germán Pezzella, Ramiro Funes Mori, Nicolás Tagliafico; Giovani Lo Celso, Leandro Paredes, Exequiel Palacios; Cristian Pavón, Giovanni Simeone and Gonzalo Martínez
Alan Franco, Walter Kannemann, Santiago Ascacíbar, Franco Vázquez, Matías Vargas and Franco Cervi were substituted into the match.
Franco Armani, Sergio Romero, Marcos Acuña, Fabricio Bustos, Leonel Di Plácido, Rodrigo Battaglia, Ángel Correa, Maximiliano Meza, Paulo Dybala and Mauro Icardi were on the bench.
Gonzalo Martínez scored the first goal of the match, a penalty kick to give Argentina the 1-0 lead. Giovani Lo Celso scored from the edge of the penalty area and Giovanni Simeone scored Argentina’s last goal of the match.
Five of the eleven players in the starting eleven won the World Cup with Giovani Lo Celso still part of the team. From the players called-up, seven are still part of the Argentina national team.
Lionel Scaloni would go on to win the World Cup, a Finalissima and two Copa America titles.
