Lionel Scaloni and Pablo Aimar will take charge of Argentina’s national team on an interim basis after the sacking of Jorge Sampaoli, the president of the nation’s federation said on Thursday.
After a meeting with the executive committee, Claudio Tapia said that the organization will take their time in naming a new coach for the national side, following a disappointing performance at the World Cup.
“The next three FIFA friendly matches will be coached by (Lionel) Scaloni and (Pablo) Aimar. We will take this semester to choose and decide who is going to lead in the future,” Tapia told to the media.
Scaloni, 40, and Aimar, 38, both had a long playing careers with the Argentina national team and just made the transition to the coaching side. Aimar is in charge of the Under-17 team while Scaloni was part of Sampaoli’s staff.
Argentina is scheduled to play two friendlies next month in the United States next month. The first is on Sept. 7 against Guatemala in Los Angeles and four days later, the Albiceleste will meet Colombia in New Jersey. They will also play a friendly against Brazil in October, but the date has not yet been set.
After a rocky ride in qualification for Russia 2018, Argentina just scraped into the knockout phase where they were beaten 4-3 by the eventual World Cup winners, France.
Speaking about Sampaoli’s tenure, Tapia said: “When we called him, he was the best for us. I have no doubt that we haven’t seen the [Jorge] Sampaoli we had seen at Chile and Sevilla.
“Anyway to blame him is not right, football is football. Sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don’t. We all have our responsibilities. If we didn’t get the results is because we all have failed.”
Tapia also moved to temper expectations for the national team in the coming year, pointing to the nation’s generational shift of players as the country seeks a return to winning ways.
“We must thank this generation that gave us everything, not only in the main tournaments but also during their youth years,” Tapia said. “They won the last titles in the youth categories for us. But now is time to look ahead and we must start a new era.
“When you live all that we have lived, all that we went through, you rarely get a good result quickly in sport. Those who may be thinking or dreaming that we will win the next Copa America [in 2019], that’s a little bit difficult. Even more if you take into account the generational renewal of the national team we must go through.”
Argentina’s Football Assocation (AFA) reached the basics of a financial agreement with Jorge Sampaoli’s representatives that will see the former Sevilla coach leave his post by mutual consent.
Sampaoli oversaw a chaotic World Cup campaign in Russia that saw just one win in four games and wildly different line-ups and formations for each match as the 58 year-old lost control of his squad.
A coach with a fine track record in South American club football, Sampaoli guided Chile to Copa America success and then did well in La Liga before taking over the national team of his home nation but a disastrous campaign and a governing body that continue to be one of the worst-run in world football have combined to necessitate his exit.
Sampaoli is keen to find a new job as soon as possible and was willing to remain in his post until at least the Copa America in 2019 but senior figures at the AFA made clear that this was not an option, despite there being a train of thought that he may be better-suited to the impending rebuild than any other coach.
Already in a financial hole, the AFA have got off lightly with Sampaoli’s departure after negotiations saw him accept just over £1m compensation for his contract that was slated to run until 2022, a significant discount on the £7.8m he could have held out for.