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Editor's note: Follow for live updates from Argentina-Cape Verde!MIAMI — it is not an unimpressive list: César Menotti, Carlos Bilardo, Tata Martino, Marcelo Bielsa, Jose Pekerman, Diego Armando Maradona.Argentina has had many standout managers. Lionel Scaloni may eclipse them all.As he prepares for the 100th match leading the Albiceleste, Friday's round of 32 contest against Cape Verde, he is chasing only Guillermo Stábile for both longevity and trophies. Stábile coached 115 Argentina matches between 1939-1958, winning six Copa América trophies along the way.Already, Scaloni has led Argentina to a pair of Copa América trophies, and the team is working on adding a second World Cup to the case, putting a fourth star over the jersey after Menotti and Bilardo won one each.Buy Argentina World Cup tickets!This is not what anyone expected when Scaloni took over the role in 2018.A young former right back or midfielder whose only head coaching experience came at the U-20 level, the federation turned to Scaloni for stability. It got all that and much more from the unproven coach, as Scaloni guided Argentina to wins in the 2019 Copa América, then to the 2022 World Cup and defended the South American crown by winning the 2024 tournament.Detractors will point out that Scaloni's main job has been not to screw anything up. With the best player in the world, a generation of players who won titles at the youth level and a culture already established waiting for him when he took over.That diminishes the tactical challenges he has had, making sure Messi still stands out as age demands his game changes, and reworking the attack after the international retirement of Angel Di Maria, plus keeping the defense fresh as leaders like Nicolás Otamendi and Nicolás Tagliafico age.But it also misses how Scaloni evaluated what the national team needed and worked to provide it. Scaloni came alongside players who had many years in the sport and served as a mentor figure, helping players work through the challenges of life in addition to resolving issues on the field."The majority of Argentines understand soccer: The 4-3-3, 4-4-2, but for me there are things that are fundamental that aren't on the technical side, that aren't tactics or strategy. They really go on the other side," Scaloni said in a mini-series released this summer. "Why do you get along with someone else, why because you're going to give much more for this ball because it's your friend? I grew up with that: We're all together."What did Scaloni do that Tata Martinez, Jorge Sampaoli & other veteran managers couldn't?With that long history of playing the sport, understanding tactics, being asked to play in various roles, many players valued Scaloni's life experience and wisdom as much or more than they did his tactical diagrams."He made me understand that life can be seen from many different perspectives, just like soccer," said Rodrigo De Paul, who counted that he has played in 90 of the 100 matches Scaloni has coached. "I always come away with this part: The most important thing is that we’re not soccer players but people who play soccer."That phrase for me is so important because behind every player, there’s a person with many problems, with many satisfactions, dreams. When you see the person managing you understands that, you feel in a much more comfortable place. I think that can explain the strengths he has that have brought us here."Boiling Scaloni's success down to the program he inherited also ignores the fact that plenty of more established coaches had the same conditions Scaloni had but couldn't get Argentina over the hump.In an atmosphere where everything around him tends toward hype and grandeur, Scaloni stays level. He is respectful in his news conferences, but often uses them as a way to try and lower the temperature, speaking frankly but politely when asked questions about Argentina's chances of defending its title or, at times, even more off-the-wall queries like if Argentina would try to get goalkeeper Dibu Martinez a goal in the 2024 Copa América.At times, it seems he would rather simply pull up a highlight video or point to the players in his locker room."What you all see, I see too. It’s a bit of an uncomfortable situation when you guys ask me this, because I don’t know what to say any more," he said last week when asked about Messi's brilliance. "Sometimes you can say too much," he added Thursday.Even when he wants to speak, he is often thinking of that human side. He has become known for being in touch with his emotions and sometimes being moved to tears by what he is experiencing with his own team.That happened in the team talk before the 2022 World Cup final, players recalled in the mini-series, laughing at what assistant Walter Samuel called "the worst team talk in history.""It was a team talk in his style," De Paul says with a smile in the series.Perhaps, with time going by and more experience, Scaloni will be less moved with a return to the final, but that is his focus - not because of the individual recognition, not to become the first Argentina coach to win two World Cup titles but because he practices what he preaches to his players, that every time putting on the Argentina shirt could be the last, and it must be valued.Will Lionel Scaloni leave the Argentina national team after the 2026 World Cup?What comes next for the 48-year-old is not entirely certain. The manager said Thursday that his contract with the AFA runs through the end of the year, but the federation knows he's more than open to speaking about an extension.There is no real reason for him to leave one of the best jobs in the world, one he has done so well. At some point, though, he may want to see if he can hang with some of his mentors, with his Argentine compatriots whoFans want him to take the jump when he's ready. Asked earlier this tournament if he would promise to one day manage former club Estudiantes de la Plata, Scaloni joked he'd already over-committed himself, having said previously he'd take charge at Deportivo La Coruña, where he appeared 200 times, and other ex-clubs.For now, Scaloni isn't thinking about any of that. Whether or not you believe, as he says, that Cape Verde can shock Argentina in the round of 32, it's impossible not to believe that he has fixed his entire focus on that matchup."There’s an opponent to face, to respect and one that does things well," he said Thursday. "The margin is small now. If you lose, you go home."Even if Scaloni's Argentina crashes out, he will have a high place in the history of soccer in his country. More likely, the "Scaloneta" will keep rolling on with the humble driver continuing to rack up praise and achievements along the way.
