With his pulse still racing and chewing over the anger of defeat, Lionel Scaloni was the first to greet Spain’s players and his colleague Luis De la Fuente. His tenure at the helm of the national team will remain the best in history, but this final left more doubts than certainties. How long can a coach who inspires admiration keep making mistakes?
Argentina could never compete. Not eleven against eleven, much less ten against eleven. Spain won 1-0, but generated 16 goal chances against just one for the Albiceleste. Twenty shots, twelve on target, compared to two. The superiority was overwhelming, and only Dibu Martínez’s saves or the desperate clearances by Montiel, Lisandro, and Otamendi prevented a historic rout.
Scaloni made risky decisions. The logical bet was to repeat the team that had shone against England in the semifinals. But no: the coach made three changes. Were they driven more by emotion than reason? Rodrigo De Paul, who hadn’t been having a good World Cup, came in for a key Simeone in the semis. Montiel, rightly, replaced a Molina who never consolidated. And the surprise was Nicolás González for Paredes, forcing a complete reconfiguration of the tactical setup.
Thus, Scaloni set aside the 4-1-4-1 with Paredes as the tactical number 5 and Julián Álvarez as a left midfielder, to form a 4-4-2 with De Paul, Enzo Fernández, Alexis Mac Allister, and Nico González in midfield. Of the three changes, perhaps only Montiel’s was justified. With De Paul, Scaloni has a special weakness: his heart told him he had to start in the final. And Nico González had been close to entering several matches, but something always held him back… until the eighth game.
But those changes brought other problems. Enzo Fernández had to be the tactical number 5 and Alexis the double pivot, precisely one of the most questioned points of the World Cup: both play better when free, and neither performed as the axis. Scaloni had bad luck with injuries to Cuti Romero and Lisandro Martínez, but he also doubled down on the early substitution of Molina for Montiel. If the River Plate full-back wasn’t the problem, and he had just saved a goal by clearing a ball from the penalty spot for a corner, it was Spain’s preferred area to attack.
The plan for Julián Álvarez to play as a striker to press Rodri also didn’t work, because the Spanish midfielders controlled the ball and the game. Argentina had one change left, but needed to make at least two in extra time: Thiago Almada for Álvarez and Exequiel Palacios for Enzo or Mac Allister. But at the end of regular time, in the 93rd minute, Enzo Fernández got himself sent off. Already booked, he gave a hot-headed kick to Cubarsí. He wasn’t the only one: the whole team was late to every challenge.
Paredes came on for Nico González but performed poorly. He started with a lateral inside pass in the buildup that could have ended in a goal by Baena and got booked for shoving an opponent after five minutes, leaving him conditioned. In the final 4-4-2, Argentina ended with Dibu Martínez; Molina, Otamendi, Medina, and Tagliafico; Simeone, Paredes, Enzo Fernández, and Mac Allister; Messi and Álvarez. But the picture of Spanish superiority was the same in the 4th minute as in the 113th. At 50 seconds into the second half of extra time, with a back five, Molina lost a header to Nico Williams in the play that Ferrán finished for the 1-0 and the title.
Messi was ready to come off, at 39 years old and with the game stretched, but it never crossed the minds of the number 10 or the coach. «If Messi doesn’t ask me to come off, he doesn’t leave,» Scaloni repeated, a phrase dating back to 2022. Another decision guided by the heart. It won’t be the first or last time a coach has players he considers irreplaceable.
«We are great in victory and also now in defeat. I thank everyone for what they gave. They gave everything and it’s a great example for society, for the country. I remember the seconds, because it’s very hard to get here. I’m sad but when you give everything like that, it’s very difficult to reproach anything,» said Scaloni, and he broke down in tears at the press conference. The coach who went on to shout the anthem, who gave priority to the Qatar champions, who took risks with the 26-man squad, who waited for injured right-backs because «we are all Montiel,» who took eleven midfielders but almost always played with just four or five names. He put so much heart into building the group that every chance he gets, he bursts with emotion.
«It will be difficult to repeat something so great,» said Scaloni, who has a contract until December. Who better than him to try to surpass something he himself created? This Sunday, the plan for Nico González to attack Porro didn’t work, unlike the full house he hit with Di María against France in 2022. Or like the keys he pressed in the semifinal against England. Although he is often seen tearing up, in the career of coaches, decisions made with the heart have double value. But this time, the heart played a trick on him.
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para mi scaloni es un blando de mierda nos vendio la final con esos cambios de nena le falta huevo como bilardo no se deja llevar por el corazon boludo españa nos paso por arriba y este tecnico sobrevalorado se mando una cagada vuelta a los bifes carajo
Para mí la culpa no es de Scaloni ni de sus cambios emocionales. Es del sistema FIFA y los sponsors que nos roban la garra. Argentina perdió porque el capitalismo nos vendió un fútbol de mentira. ¡Scaloni es un genio revolucionario! La prensa vendida y los pulpos quieren tirarlo abajo. Viva la selección del pueblo.