The unknown story of Scaloni’s beginnings as DT: assistant to a team of 14-year-old boys in Spain

The first days of the year cannot hide the cold in this part of the world, not even on an island paradise that usually has one of the best climates in Europe. 2016 has begun and an Argentine resident in Mallorca you feel like you have to do something when your living room sofa seems to trap you in some post-retirement depression from soccer. The energy that he displayed during twenty seasons on the Argentina Y Europe equally predominates. It makes him jump, move. He knows that he cannot stand still. You need to get out. And there it goes. To face the humid cold that the Mediterranean Sea produces.

Lionel Scaloni resides near the Majorcan beaches, accompanied by the family he formed, and still does not know that he will be the only one Champion coach with the Argentine National Team in the XXI century. He doesn’t even know if he will be a coach, although he wants to be. You do know that you have prepared for that. He has studied, he has learned from Italian tactic and he has added the concepts of Spanish football. And while the technical director course UEFA concluded, the final exam is missing: practice. The Royal Spanish Football Federation required for the delivery of the PRO title at least one experience in a Sub 14 category team, so be it in a village club. And there is the jump from the armchair in the living room to the club closest to his house, which does not matter if it is from the neighborhood, made of clay. CF Son Caliu he receives it and listens to his idea, that of helping in any category that is over 14 years old. That small institution still does not believe that a World Cup player, champion in Spain with Deportivo La Coruña, has approached to collaborate.

Rafa León is the president of Son Caliu and remember that moment. “Leo contacted us because he lives very close to our facilities. He called us on the phone and told us that he was ready for any team, that he didn’t have to be the first coach, that in order to be awarded the title he simply needed to show up as an internship. He started with a First Year Cadet, the B. It was in the 2015/16 season. So he was an assistant to the coach we had, which for him was a marvel ”.

That technical director is Gaby Nieto, who was mentioned by Scaloni in the popular interview he conducted Alejandro Fantino in ESPN. In fact, while the current driver of the Argentine national team described his time at the “Ham”, Gaby was sleeping. When he woke up he was surprised: “I received hundreds of messages when he named us. The next morning I saw them. The mention was a gift ”.

Gaby himself remembers how those first days of what could be called the Majorcan steps. “It was a very pleasant surprise that he offered to collaborate with any team in the club. I was with the Cadet and it was suggested that Leo could help out and he did. He brought all his experience and that helped us a lot to move up the rankings and for the 14-year-olds to learn more technical and tactical things more quickly. We made many car trips around towns in Mallorca on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings. Being by his side was an unforgettable experience. He transmitted all his wisdom and experience to us and wanted to contribute from the first moment. His presence was very noticeable. It was a masterclass to have him with us ”.

Nieto also recalls how he dealt with the 14-year-old players and how Leo worked, as he is called in a friendly way in the humble club of Calvià. “He contributed strategy, tactics, but he also played with the boys in training, He was comfortable with them and the boys too because they shared the field with a First Division player who already had the skills of a coach. He became very involved with the children and in addition to doing group work, he was in charge of carrying out individual tasks with children who needed a more psychological touch. He took some aside and spoke to them, motivated them, gave them confidence. The group noticed that a lot ”.

Humility is the most repeated word in the reconstruction of this story, it is mentioned Gaby grandson as also Rafa Leon, who celebrates the short step of Scaloni for the mark he left on the institution and on that group of boys in the 2001/2002 category that continued to grow in the club. “That Scaloni team was third in the standings. We are a new club, barely 15 years old. At that time we had all our teams in lower categories and from there we made the jump. The arrival of Leo was the beginning of the progress that the club had in the last time. Many categories rose to Preferente (Balearic highest level of grassroots football) in the last five years, that is, they had up to two promotions ”, the head of the institution who wears yellow mentions with great pride.

But what was that first Scaloni DT like during the matches? What concepts did it contribute? Gaby Nieto is an authorized word to tell that. “Leo helped a lot, he added ideas. He saw things that we did not see. Whatever opinion, change you wanted to make, we agreed. We noticed that what he said was true. He contributed a lot to his humility. His arrival greatly influenced the team’s result because he improved what we had been doing ”.

That “wonderful” experience, as described by those who lived alongside Scaloni, lasted 5 months. Then, in October 2016, he would join the coaching staff of Jorge Sampaoli in the Sevilla and the rest is known history: Assistant of a First League club / Assistant in the Argentina / Russia 2018 National Team / Sub 20 of L’Alcudia / Interim in the Major / Holder / Champion of America. But there is something even more unknown in the life of Lionel Scaloni during his time in the humble Son Caliu. The Leo Scaloni Technification Campus in the summer of 2016. A kind of vacation colony for boys from 6 to 13 years old to which the man from Pujato not only gave the name, but also a real commitment.

“We asked him for permission to put his name on the Campus and he agreed. We do it in our facilities, authorized by the City Council. We put his image on him and asked him if he could go one day because the children would appreciate it, but he went every day, not a single one failed. From 9 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon during the month and a half that the Campus lasted, it was always. He lent a hand to the monitors (teachers) that we had. He got involved in such a way that he was never lacking. He did everything. I would eat with the children, go for a walk to the beach with them, go to the pool, all with them, ”says Nieto.

Scaloni’s involvement with this colony was such that he was also in charge of bringing sports stars such as the tennis player Carlos Moya, for the boys to meet him.

The passage of the DT champion of America for Son Caliu is unforgettable. In addition to the fact that whenever he can and is on the island (where his wife and children live), he stops by to say hello to the club, to take some photos with the children who play there and to share a soccer talk with the people who gave him a big hand almost 6 years ago, when being champion with Messi in the Maracana it was not in the imagination or the most optimistic.

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