Scaloni and nine others: who are the ones who played in the World Cup and are now in charge in Qatar

In an excess of modesty, Lionel Scaloni He recently declared that Scaloni’s player could not play in this selection. Anyone who sees the video of the goal that the current coach scored against Brazil in the Under 20 World Cup (Malaysia, 1997) will understand that this appreciation is not fair, perhaps it is a way to enhance the team he leads today.

How did Scaloni play? That action (full, not just the definition) in the quarterfinals defines him quite accurately, even if the goal was not a habit of him. Midfielder turned winger, intense, with a great performance, the kind that spreads, more attack than brand.

The youngest coach, at 44, of the 32 who are in Qatar He is also a member of a select list of only ten who have enjoyed a Senior World Cup in shorts.

Only one match, out of the six that the Argentina national team played in Germany 2006, was played by Scaloni. Against Mexico, for the round of 16, the current coach wore the number 13 shirt to play in the right-back position. Behind him, the goalkeeper: Roberto Abbondanzieri. As defense mates, Roberto Ayala (today part of his technical staff), Gabriel Heinze and Juan Pablo Sorin. Subsequently, Javier Mascherano, Esteban Cambiasso, Maximiliano Rodríguez, Juan Román Riquelme, Javier Saviola and Hernán Crespo, headlines.

Scaloni saw Rafa Márquez’s opening goal from the plains, Crespo’s equalizer, Leo Messi’s introduction for Saviola in the 84th minute and, how can we forget it, Maxi Rodríguez’s bombardment in the 98th minute, already in extra time, to seal the agony and the much-celebrated quarter-final standings.

For the match against Germany, José Pekerman brought him back to the substitute bench. Yep, inches from a frustrated Lionel Messi for not getting in. Scaloni was the original midfielder, but he had already given feedback to the winger coach at the Under 20 World Cup in Malaysia, where they had been champions. In the senior team he played only 7 matches.

In the category of coaches who played the World Cup and are in Doha today, no one will be able to dethrone Didier Deschamps. Champion as player and captain in 1998, champion as coach in 2018, milestone that he shares only with Franz Beckenbauer and Mario Lobo Zagallo. France’s two world titles have a common denominator, this central midfielder and later coach. Always leading.

For Didier Claude Deschamps, coach of the blue team since July 2012, the Qatari will be in his fourth World Cup, third as manager (also coached France in 2014, where they reached the quarter-finals). He may establish yet another brand, but none will be able to match the ones he owns.

As Cholo Diego Simeone once said, “every time you see a picture of Deschamps, he’s raising a cup.” He was referring to his time as a player, in which, among other singularities, he played in five Champions League finals and was champion in two: with Olympique de Marseille in 1993 (the only one so far for a French club) and with Juventus in 1996. With his team he also won a Euro Cup (2000), in which he played 103 games and scored four goals between 1989 and 2000.

Captain, with the number 7, of that France where, among others, Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry shone, Deschamps played six games in that World Cup.

There are only ten coaches in this Cup who have already gained World Cup experience as players and the list offers many curiosities. Rigobert Song, for example, a Cameroonian, has played in four World Cups (1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010), nine games, won only once and red card twice.

In descending order we find Luis Enrico, who with the number 21 shirt of Spain played three World Cups (1994, 1998 and 2002), 12 games, with two goals converted. The best performance for this attacking midfielder was fifth place in the Korea-Japan match.

Luis Enrique was able to shine at Real Madrid and Barcelona as an all-terrain midfielder with excellent technique. Also as a coach, especially at Barcelona, ​​​​where with Messi in the team he won nine titles, including the famous treble: La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League in 2015.

With two participations, it stands out the current coach of Serbia, Dragan Stojkovic, the 10th of Yugoslavia in 1990 and 1998. At the World Cup in Italy he was nicknamed “the Yugoslav Platini”. There he played five games and scored two goals for Spain, the second from a free kick. He lost in the quarterfinals, the remembered match defined by penalties against Argentina. What he finished hit Sergio Goycochea’s crossbar. In total he added 9 matches and 3 goals in the World Cup.

Stojkovic is a glory in Serbia, considered the second best footballer of the last 50 years in that country, behind striker Dragan Dzajic. He was also president of the Yugoslav Football Federation between 2001 and 2004 and a year later, president of the Red Star club.