Diego Maradona had complained of Lionel Scaloni: “He can’t even direct traffic,” just after he took over as the coach of Argentina national team four years ago. 

To be the coach of the national team of Argentina is to be inside a pressure-cooker.

The bar is set at dizzying heights. Among the high priests of Argentine coaches, he was plebeian, no match for César Luis Menotti, the chain-smoker manager of 1978 world cup win, or Carlos Bilardo of 1986 victory or Alejandro Sabella who led the team to 2014 finals. 

When Scaloni was summoned for the job, the team was in the dumps. A bunch of chokers failing to get it right on a big day even in the company of possibly the greatest of all time, Lionel Messi. 

Scaloni’s  seven national caps and one world cup appearance were neither jaw-dropping nor awe-inspiring.

But Scaloni knew one thing: when it is played on the highest stage, football is a game of fleeting fortunes; it takes very little for the proceedings on the pitch to move from anonymous to enormous. And the sum of a total team is more than the parts of the players. 

Scaloni’s appointment as the coach was akin to putting him on a notice period. He was named interim manager for two games. Two more followed, then two more.  It was like being asked to keep the chair warm for someone more storied to take over. No one seemed to have shown up. “The sun will come up tomorrow,” Scaloni is so fond of saying. 

By the time Argentina beat Ecuador in the 2021 Copa América quarter-final, coach Scaloni was showing certitude of a promise. Promises with certain delivery. At 44, he has taken Argentina a Copa América, their first trophy in 28 years, then to the Finalissima win against Italy as European champions, a 36-game unbeaten run and the crowning glory of their third World Cup victory, The sun has shone on Team Argentina. Lionel Scaloni can bask in the glory of all the sunlight that Bunes Aires skies can shower on him.