Like all the best stories in Argentina, it starts with a barbecue.
Chile's 2015 Copa America-winning coach Jorge Sampaoli was enjoying an asado back in his hometown of Casilda in Santa Fe province before embarking upon his next coaching adventure. In the 2016/17 season, he would lead LaLiga side and then five-time Europa League winners Sevilla.
Late in the evening, an uninvited guest turned up and had a message for Sampaoli, having made the short trip of 13 kilometres — a shade over a 15-minute drive – from Pujato. For his Spanish adventure, the gentleman assured Sampaoli he knew of the perfect young coach to assist him and his staff. It was the man's son.
Sampaoli did not dismiss the idea out of hand and offered assurances that he would assess whether Lionel Scaloni's credentials lived up to his father's glowing reference in due course.
Former Deportivo and West Ham wing-back Scaloni finished his playing career at Atalanta in 2015 and remained in Europe. At the time his dad gave Sampaoli the hard sell, he was residing on Mallorca having also played for Real Mallorca on loan from Lazio in 2008/09.
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Scaloni was going through the process of getting his coaching license with the Royal Spanish Football Association (RFEF) and, to fulfil those requirements, he spent five months as the assistant coach for the under-14s side at CF Son Caliu.
It meant a swift step up to the top of European football once Sampaoli decided Scaloni was worth a shot. They spent a solitary season at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan as Sevilla finished fourth in the table, beat Real Madrid to end the European champions' 40-match unbeaten run and finished fourth.
By the time the campaign reached its conclusion, speculation was rife over Sampaoli being ready to answer the call and take over Argentina's beleaguered national team. He took his staff, including Sampaoli, with him and set off on the ill-fated road to the 2018 World Cup.
Following the debacle in Russia, Sampaoli's position was untenable. He settled on a reportedly $2million pay-off, a figure that came as a relief to the cash-strapped AFA given the coach was contracted until 2022 and could have held out for much more.
Even so, the federation could not end up in another financial hole with their next national team boss. Scaloni was there, well-liked by the players in the admittedly unhelpful context of a near mutiny and cheap.
If you've never held a senior head coaching role before, you're not exactly in a position to demand the big bucks.
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"Scaloni is a great boy but he can't even manage traffic," Diego Maradona told Clarin. "No offence. As a person, let's go and share a barbecue. But as a coach and in the national team, no."
On reflection, perhaps Diego was looking to share a barbecue with the wrong Scaloni. Lionel Messi was making no such rash judgements. Unlike after the Copa America Centenario, there was no retirement announcement as he slunk off sadly back to Barcelona.
He did not feature in any of Scaloni's squads for the rest of 2018, missing six international friendlies, but returned as captain for a 3-1 defeat in Venezuela. A brace in a 5-1 win over Nicaragua was Messi's only other outing before a return to competitive action at the 2019 Copa America.
A pitiful opening 2-0 defeat to Colombia was followed by Argentina going 1-0 down to Paraguay in the next game and a sense that Scaloni might be better served following Maradona's advice and seeking an internship with the traffic department.
Messi salvaged a point with a second-half penalty and a 2-0 win over guest participants Qatar made sure of a quarter-final berth. Venezuela were beaten by the same scoreline, with Lautaro Martinez scoring in both of those victories.
The Inter striker's emergence would prove the most significant development of the Copa for Argentina, along with the first signs of a tenacious team spirit.
A 2-0 loss to hosts Brazil in the semis was no great surprise and Argentina acquitted themselves well enough. The third-place playoff against Chile was notably feisty, maybe on account of lingering emotion from those 2015 and 2016 finals.
Early goals from Sergio Aguero and Paulo Dybala made sure of a 2-1 win that was played out after Messi and Chile's Gary Medel were shown red cards. That refusal to buckle under Chile's intimidatory tactics felt significant for an Argentina side that looked to have developed a soft underbelly while being pummelled from disappointment to disappointment.
Still, not even Scaloni's dad would have suggested that bronze-medal victory might be the start of an ongoing 36-match unbeaten run. Yet that's exactly where we are going into the 2022 World Cup.
The chaotic selections of previous eras have gone. After taking time to grow into his role, Scaloni has built an Argentina team with balance and structure.
The midfield, which so often failed to provide Messi with a platform and sucked him into its mess, has been reconfigured around Leandro Paredes and the relentless Rodrigo De Paul.
Angel Di Maria, Messi's remaining ally from the youth team days, has completed the journey from hero to hate figure and back again. Up front, Lautaro has proved a prolific presence and has 21 goals in 40 caps.
These elements have all been key to Messi enjoying his football with Argentina and revelling in an elder-statesman role. Unlike in his prime years, he is not expected to do everything.
Where teammates might once have ceded responsibility to him, the likes of De Paul and Lautaro in particular want to take responsibility to help him thrive. Another reverse of a long-established norm has been Messi looking like a happier version of himself in Argentina colours.
Far from having the weight of the world on his shoulders in blue and white, as was the case when he ruled the world at Barca, he has been liberated from various sapping shenanigans in his club career — most notably an unsuccessful attempt to leave Camp Nou in 2020 and an unsuccessful attempt to stay there before being shovelled off to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
Prior to that transfer bombshell came the greatest liberation of all. After 28 years of waiting, 16 of which encompassed Messi's international career, Argentina won a major trophy.
The 2021 Copa America was played behind closed doors in Brazil. Beating the hosts in the final inside an empty Maracana could not quite measure you to what might have been in 2014, but Di Maria's lobbed finish on the end of De Paul's pass to secure a 1-0 win was a moment of ultimate triumph for La Albiceleste, their long-time talisman and unlikely coach.
Messi didn't have the best game in the final. However, he was now in an Argentina team that could absorb him being human. Prior to that, he had illuminated the competition.
In the opening 1-1 draw against Chile he dispatched an immaculate free-kick and supplied a twinkle-toed assist for Guido Rodriguez in a 1-0 win over Uruguay.
There were two goals and an assist in a 4-1 rout of Bolivia in Argentina's final group game, while assists for De Paul and Lautaro before sealing a 3-0 quarter-final win over an error-stricken Ecuador also showed Messi in masterclass mode.
The 35-year-old has transitioned into as much a creator as a scorer amid PSG's all-star forward line and gave an airing of these qualities by again teeing up Martinez in a semi-final versus Colombia where he and his teammates held their nerve in a penalty shootout.
Emiliano Martinez was the hero that day and the goalkeeper's emergence along with defenders Lisandro Martinez and Cristian Romero means Argentina feel further away from meltdowns than they have for some time.
They averted one when they beat Brazil in their own backyard to lift the Copa and the progress has continued since, most notably in a swaggering 3-0 Finalissima win over Italy at Wembley in June. Messi set up Dybala to complete the scoring having already claimed his now customary assist for Lautaro.
Everything seems to be in an implausibly good place for Argentina as they take Messi's final shot at World Cup glory in Qatar.
His 17 years of often bitter experience should keep any enthusiasm healthily in check.
Credits and acknowledgements
The Sporting News was fortunate enough to speak to a number of experts on Portuguese and Argentine football to enhance the Messi & Ronaldo: Destination Mundial series. We would like to thank the following people for their time and input – please do check out their superb work.
Santi Bauza: Argentinian football journalist and content creator, whose credits include Copa 90, CNN and Hand of Pod.
Dan Edwards: Freelance football journalist based in Argentina, formerly the long-time South America correspondent for Goal.com.
Peter Coates: Editor of Golazo Argentino.
Simon Curtis: Portuguese football expert and co-author of The Thirteenth Chapter.
Aaron Barton: Creator of English-language Portuguese football destination Proxima Journada.
Tom Kundert: Creator of PortuGOAL and co-author of The Thirteenth Chapter
Joshua Robinson & Jonathan Clegg: Wall Street Journal sports reporters and authors of Messi vs. Ronaldo: One Rivalry, Two GOATs, and the Era That Remade the World's Game
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