Buenos Aires, May 23: The image is still remarkable.Lionel Scaloni standing impassively on the sidelines after Gonzalo Montiel scored the decisive penalty in the final of the 2022 World Cup, giving Argentina its third star with a victory over France.
The coach didn’t celebrate at first, remaining still, silent, as if oblivious to the feat he himself had helped to accomplish. Several minutes later, he broke down when one of his players approached him, hugged him, and whispered: “We are world champions.” Scaloni almost never loses his cool. He didn’t when he was bombarded with criticism for his lack of experience while leading Argentina. Nor did he when Kylian Mbappe’s goals threatened the country’s World Cup hopes four years ago. And he remains the same today as he faces the challenge of trying to repeat as a World Cup champion.
Those who know him say Scaloni learned to control his temper thanks to a hobby outside of soccer. Since retiring as a player, he dedicates two to three hours a day to cycling, a sport he took up on the recommendation of his friend, the former Spanish tennis player Carlos Moya.
Pedaling his bicycle through the mountains of Mallorca, the Spanish island where he lives, or along the trails of his hometown of Pujato in the northwest of the South American country, Scaloni seeks to clear his mind and reflect.
“On the bike, you can think about your team, your opponent, how to prepare for the match. It really clears my head. I use it as therapy,” Scaloni said in several interviews.
“It’s a good escape â?¦ it helps me lower my expectations, be calmer.” In a few weeks, Scaloni will become the third coach to lead Argentina into consecutive World Cups, following in the footsteps of Cesar Luis Menotti (1978 and 1982) and Carlos Bilardo (1986 and 1990), both also champions. But the youngest of the three doesn’t believe he deserves comparisons to the others. (AP)
