“Thanks Scaloneta,” said the headline in Argentina‘s Pagina 12 newspaper shortly after Sunday’s World Cup final, using the nickname for the team coached by Lionel Scaloni.
“What remains are the joys, the memories, and, now, the lamentations,” the story read. “The national team ended five years of total domination with a bad game, keeping in contention thanks to the saves of Dibu Martínez. Spain are worthy champions.”
Lionel Messi might well have been expecting the 1-0 defeat to Spain. “No matter what happens, this group has written a history that we will never forget,” he said Saturday.
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It felt like the declaration of a boxer well aware that he was about to face a superior opponent. And though it took Spain a long time to land the knockout blow, if it had been a boxing match La Roja would have built up an unassailable lead on points.
True, Spain had enjoyed an extra day of rest. And injuries to Argentina players robbed Scaloni of the chance to use some of his attacking options. But after the final whistle, as a heartbroken Messi gazed at the massed ranks of Argentina supporters, the coach might well have been reflecting on the size of the gap between the two teams, and on the way that Argentina’s idea of play was so completely bettered by that of Spain.
There is a delicious irony at the heart of the 2026 World Cup. The tournament appeared set up to venerate the concept of celebrity — both the big-name players on the pitch, and the stars of other fields of human endeavor in the stands. And yet the trophy ended up in the hands of a team that have little to do with such thinking.
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True, Lamine Yamal is undoubtedly a celebrity. But this was not his tournament, and anyway, he is a product of the Barcelona philosophy of creating stars who do not behave like stars. Like all of his teammates, he is fully engaged in the task of winning possession; everyone has to put in a shift. Spain’s semifinal victory over France — by some distance the greatest team performance of the competition — was a triumph of the collective.
Scaloni’s Argentina have been built from different materials. Essentially it’s Messi and his fan club. The team is set up to get the best out of its star player — which has worked so well because Messi is so talented but also because he is so intelligent, seeming to be simultaneously playing and watching the match from the best seat in the house, spotting the vulnerable space in the opposing defense and working out ways to exploit it.
But has this formula worn thin? The signs were there as soon as the tournament became serious.
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Last time in Qatar, Argentina dominated nearly all of their knockout matches — against Australia, with a wobble toward the end, against Netherlands, with a wobble toward the end of normal time, against Croatia from start to finish, and then taking the game away from France for the first hour of the final.
Nearly four years later it was a very different story, with Messi & Co. forced to dig deep time and again as Argentina battled their way through — until they had little left with which to battle.
This is one of the reasons that it’s so hard to win back-to-back World Cups — and arguably even harder now that there are more knockout rounds. A club side can evolve its team over the course of a league season, gradually replacing players and experimenting with new ideas. With a national team, this is much more difficult. Winning sides are kept together … until the moment the winning ends.
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There are no guarantees that Scaloni will stay in his position as Argentina boss, as he made clear in a painful postmatch news conference Sunday. And as for Messi, as he surveyed the stands, he might well have been thinking that 2030 looks a long, long way away.
Whether the two Lionels stay in harness, a time of transition now begins for Argentina. They were a relatively old team in this World Cup, and some of these players — fullbacks Gonzalo Montiel and Nicolás Tagliafico, Nicolás Otamendi at center back, and very probably midfielders Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes, will not be on parade in four years’ time.
Over this post-Qatar cycle Scaloni has been thinking about the future, bringing younger players into the squad for a taste of senior level experience. Only a couple of them survived the cut and made the World Cup; dynamic left-sided flyer Valentín Barco, and highly talented attacking midfielder Nico Paz. They made little contribution to this campaign, but their time is fast arriving. Paz, in particular, is seen as a great hope. So far it has been hard to incorporate him on the same team as Messi, since both want the ball played to feet, but the future clearly belongs to Paz.
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And what of Messi? Does he have a role to play in the transition? Might there be some sense in playing on until the Copa América of 2028, helping the newcomers evolve? And if that were to go well, the next World Cup — with a guaranteed home game in Buenos Aires — would only be two years away. It could be tempting.
On the other hand, Messi could well be reflecting that Qatar 2022 now seems a long time in the past, and that things could never be that good again. Until his team were so soundly beaten by Spain, Messi had surpassed all expectations. He was successfully defying the hands of the clock. But in the race between the athlete and time there is only ever one winner, and this might be a good moment to leave the stage.
