The day Lionel Scaloni left Brazil at a World Cup

The Argentina Sub 20 team who participated and won World Cup Malaysia 1997 It will go down in history as one of the biggest hotbeds in which footballers are referenced: Juan Román Riquelme, Pablo Aimar, Esteban Cambiasso, Walter Samuel, Diego Placente and Lionel Scaloni, among other things. For five years, the last of the mentioned persons (with the Clown and the Wall as assistants) led the Albiceleste and achieved maximum glory in Qatar, but his cycle of titles began in the final of the Copa America 2021 against a rival from whom he managed to win a World Cup.

Logically, led by José Pekerman, the team defended the title won two years earlier in Qatar. The defeat against Australia in the last match, when they had already been drawn for the round of 16, condemned them in that case against England and, if they succeeded, against the Brazilian team, the very one he defeated in the 1995 final and who arrived thirsty for revenge. So much so that they are in their first four games Scratch had scored 25 goalsincluding a 10-3 for South Korea and a 10-0 for Belgium in the round of 16.

It was a hard-fought match like any other Argentina-Brazil, where no disagreement could be made and the albicelest defense managed to keep Adaílton and Alex, figures of the Verdeamarela, well under control. Scaloni, a substitute for that team, came on for Diego Markic 22 minutes into the first half, but it wouldn’t be until the 79th minute that he would have his moment of glory: Riquelme looked for the 18th with a deep pass who almost reached the goal line, dribbled past Adaílton, entered the area and, Seeing the goalkeeper step forward in an attempt to cut off the would-be cross, he finished high at the near post and made it 1-0. At the end, Perezlindo would seal the celebration for the children, who were on their way to another title in the category.

Precisely 24 years and 12 days since June 29 Unforgettable for the current coach, his team defeated Brazil 1-0 in the US final, ending a 28-year drought without titles for the national team. The coach has already faced Verdeamarela five times: two friendly matches, one with a 1-0 win and the other with a defeat with the same result, both in Arabia; suffered a heavy blow (and the last defeat of the cycle) in the semi-final of the 2019 Copa América, with a 0-2 wrapped in controversy through distinctly localist arbitrage; revenge was taken on Brazilian territory 2021 with a historic Maracanazo. And after the suspended match in San Pablo, 0-0 draw in San Juanduring the last recorded confrontation, in November 2021.