WORLD CUP 2022
How Scaloni won World Cup with Messi plea in 2016
The Argentina coach couldn’t control his emotions on Sunday as he and his team lifted the 2022 World Cup, but the success stems back to an earlier action.
Lionel Messi has gone through some really tough times with the Argentine team. In fact, it could be argued, the bitter days far outweigh those that left the striker with a good taste in his mouth after wearing the albiceleste shirt. At least that was how it was.
It was so bad for the superstar that in 2016, after losing the final of the Copa América, he declared that he was leaving the national team. After a period of reflection, however, he remained with the group, been captain, and has since taken them to the very top. The now national team manager, Lionel Scaloni, has been a fundamental figure in the victory and, as it turns out, even before taking office he already played his part.
Messi stays with Argentina and glory is returned
After winning the World Cup in such dramatic fashion, a tweet posted by Scaloni back in 2016, in which he sent a message to Messi, has been brought back to life.
“This picture says it all... don’t go Lio,” it reads.
In the image you see Messi surrounded by nine Chilean players.
Scaloni took charge two years after that key day for the Argentine team, after the World Cup in Russia. From that moment on, the team began to be revived, always around the figurehead of Messi. The relationship between the two worked from the beginning and the now PSG man has always had words of praise for his coach.
Together, Scaloni and Messi, in barely a year and a half, have managed to return Argentina to the top of South American football with the Copa América triumph and to the top of the global game in Qatar. They will both go down in the history of Argentine football for their values and quality.