Boss helping Messi to his first World Cup had forgotten spell at West Ham
This might be Lionel Messi's swansong World Cup at the age of 35 – a competition he's been desperate to win since his first appearance at the tournament in 2006.
Coincidentally, that was the same year that Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni joined West Ham – even starting against Liverpool in the FA Cup final. Now the two Leos must work together to end Albiceleste's World Cup hoodoo – a competition they have not won since 1986 – a year before Messi was born.
Scaloni's time in the Premier League was short and not very sweet, though he made just 13 appearances after joining on loan from Deportivo La Coruna in January 2006. The right-back slotted straight into the team where Tomas Repka had played.
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But West Ham fans might try to forget about the Argentine's time at the club, where his final appearance for the Hammers ended in ignominy. Frustratingly, it was his sportsmanship that arguably cost the east London side the FA Cup.
West Ham were 3-2 up in the last minute at Wembley when Scaloni accidentally swatted Djibril Cisse in the face and the Frenchman went down injured. Scaloni duly rolled the ball out of play, when others perhaps would have launched the ball upfield.
Liverpool took the throw-in and gave it straight back to Scaloni, deep in his own half. But rather than launch it into Row Z, his weak clearance was seized by Liverpool and eventually found its way to Steven Gerrard's feet.
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The Liverpool legend let loose a piledriver of a shot with seconds left to go to see the Reds equalise in one of the most iconic FA Cup final goals of all time. Ultimately, Liverpool went on to win on penalties while West Ham fans aimed daggers at Scaloni – who just tried to do the right thing.
In non-surprising fashion, then-manager Alan Pardew did not decide to take on Scaloni full-time and the Argentine was forced to look elsewhere after being released by Deportivo. He ended up at Lazio before spells at Mallorca and Atalanta.
Now the 40-year-old has been parachuted into one of the biggest jobs in international football tasked with ending 36 years of heartbreak.
After taking over initially as caretaker, Scaloni quickly won the hearts of the nation – a year after the country failed at the Brazil World Cup.
Within three years after taking over in 2018, Argentina had won Copa America and ended Messi's international trophy curse – helping him land his seventh Ballon d'Or in the process.
Now he must go one better and take the Albiceleste to World Cup glory – even though they suffered the worst possible start with defeat to Saudi Arabia. If Scaloni and Messi weren't feeling the pressure – they sure are now.
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