Lionel Scaloni, the former West Ham United defender-turned-Argentina boss, knows a thing or two about comebacks.
Comebacks of the good variety – Thomas Tuchel’s England the latest washed away by a late Albiceleste tidal wave at the 2026 World Cup – and also the bad.
Lionel Scaloni was in tears after Liverpool snatched the 2006 FA Cup from under the noses of Alan Pardew’s West Ham United at the Millennium Stadium. A defeat he, rightly or wrongly, felt the brunt of responsibility for.
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Only eleven seconds passed between his shanked clearance and Steven Gerrard’s iconic volley.
“Lionel, I remember after the game [after losing on penalties], he was just crying,” former Upton Park teammate Bobby Zamora said on the Beast Mode On podcast last year.
“I think he felt it was his fault.”
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This would not be the last time tears fell from Scaloni’s eyes. The 48-year-old from Santa Fe kept his emotions relatively in check after a Lionel Messi-orchestrated turnaround in Atlanta, but he wasn’t so steadfast when masterminding a 3-2 victory from 2-0 down against Egypt in the last-16.
“I always get emotional! Sometimes the tears come out,” Scaloni he said at the Mercedes Benz Stadium. “The tears came in the dressing room too.
“The boys even call me ‘the crybaby,’ but I don’t care!”
On the eve of Wednesday’s semi-final, Scaloni took the time to look back on that fateful afternoon in Cardiff 20 years ago. Not that it will make the nature of that defeat any more tolerable for a West Ham fanbase in the midst of a 45-year domestic trophy drought, but the harsh lessons Scaloni learned that day would live with him for decades to come.
“People at West Ham might not remember [me] very fondly,” said Scaloni, that Liverpool final one of only 13 games he played during a loan spell in East London.
“I could have done better. West Ham wanted me to play [in the final]. I played every game with Alan Pardew.
“I made a grave error but it gave Gerrard the opportunity, and it changed my life forever. But also in a good way.”
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From one of the most bitter defeats in West Ham United’s history has spawned a manager who, along with his crybaby nickname, is now deserving of another, more complementary moniker. King of Comebacks, anyone?
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“I’m not surprised he’s become a manager,” former West Ham captain Nigel Reo-Coker told The Athletic earlier this week. “He was a thinker, intelligent and a good player for us.
“Sometimes I wonder if Lionel shares that story against Liverpool with his players; what to do in pressure situations and how to react in those moments.”
If indeed he has, the way Argentina rebounded after falling 2-0 down against Egypt and 1-0 down against England means that at least one member of West Ham’s Millennium Stadium nearly-men emerged stronger out of adversity.
“I think that this team plays the best when we are facing adversity,” a victorious Scaloni said after his inspired introductions of Gonzalo Montiel, Rodrigo de Paul, Nicolas Gonzalez and matchwinner Lautaro Martinez put Argentina within 90 minutes of successive world titles.
“We had a challenging game, a challenging situation.
“There was blood in the water, and we went for it. That’s the feeling that I was getting. I know the guys. They fear nothing. They don’t feel the weight on their shoulders.”
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