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For the most powerful nations in soccer, it's been some time since the post of national team head coach was the most desirable job in town.
The financial power of the club game, especially in Europe's major leagues, means the banner positions in that domain are where everyone really wants to be.
The calibre of tacticians in the Champions League's final stages has been a level above the World Cup for at least a couple of decades. The club game's defining coaches of the 21st century – Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho – have never managed a national team, while Jurgen Klopp is only just poised to take the plunge with Germany.
Nevertheless, having settled into an era of experienced veteran tacticians and trusted federation men, the 2026 World Cup marked a step change.
Here was Champions League winner Thomas Tuchel taking charge of England. Five-time Champions League winner Carlo Ancelotti was a high-profile appointment for Brazil. Leading Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea on the biggest stages preceded Mauricio Pochettino taking over co-hosts the United States.
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Pochettino and Ancelotti had their adventures ended painfully in the Round of 16. Brazil were outplayed for periods by Norway, missed the chances that came their way and were given a lesson in clinicality by Erling Haaland. The USMNT started strong with a pair of authoritative wins over Paraguay and Australia, but they were demolished by a previously off-colour Belgium.
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Like Pochettino's, it's hard to call Tuchel's tournament a failure. He reached the semifinals. But the manner of England's surrender to Argentina on that rarified stage begged serious questions over whether he had been worth the hype or the expense.
Meanwhile, Argentina will be led in the final by a man who took on the national team in 2018, in part because all of the other coaching staff from a shambolic 2018 World Cup had been fired and the Argentine federation was not exactly flush with cash. In the other dugout is Spain's 65-year-old coach, who last led a senior men's club match in 2011.
Lionel Scaloni coaching career: Sampaoli sideman to Messi mentor
A seven-times-capped Argentina international, Lionel Scaloni's playing career took him to the top divisions in Spain, England and Italy. The former Deportivo La Coruna right-back returned to Spain as part of Jorge Sampaoli's coaching team at Sevilla in 2016.
At the time, Sampaoli was one of the most sought-after coaches in European football and had been linked to Chelsea. When Argentina persuaded him to take the reins with La Albiceleste in 2017, it was viewed as a major coup. Sampaoli was a big-name tactician worthy of finally leading Lionel Messi to glory.
Only Argentina barely qualified for the 2018 World Cup and arrived in shambles. They were hammered by Croatia in their second match, having drawn with Iceland in their opener after Messi had a penalty saved. Marcos Rojo scored a last-gasp winner against Nigeria to get out of the group, but things had collapsed into open mutiny between Sampaoli and his players at that point. They lost a madcap thriller against eventual winners France, and the final World Cup of Messi's peak years was over.
Scaloni stayed on, first as caretaker manager alongside Pablo Aimar and then given the post until the end of the 2019 Copa America. Diego Maradona labelled Scaloni as "unqualified" and a man who "wouldn't be able to direct traffic", which was a little rich given his own largely bizarre stint in charge almost a decade earlier.
Argentina finished third in the Copa, defeated by hosts Brazil in the semis but improving as the tournament wore on. The AFA stuck with Scaloni, in part due to the lack of other available options and a glorious period followed.
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Success at the 2021 Copa America gave Argentina their first major title since 1993. Scaloni helped Messi to the top of the mountain in unforgettable fashion at the 2022 World Cup and Sunday's final gives La Albiceleste the chance to win an incredible fourth consecutive tournament. They retained the Copa in 2024.
MORE: Why Lionel Messi bathed Lamine Yamal in viral baby photo 19 years ago
Luis de la Fuente coaching career
A full-back like Scaloni, De la Fuente played the bulk of his career across two spells with Athletic Club
He coached the youth categories at Athletic and another of his former clubs, Sevilla, before taking over Bilbao Athletic – Athletic's second team – for two spells between 2006 and 2011.
De la Fuente's only major senior head coach role came with Alaves, who installed him in July 2011. He was sacked three months later after four wins in 11 league games in Segunda Division B.
After that, he led Spain's Under-19 side from 2013 to 2018, winning the European championship in 2015. He also won that title as Under-21 boss in 2019 before leading Spain's Olympic team to silver at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
When Luis Enrique stepped down as La Roja boss in 2022, De La Fuente was selected as an internal appointment. He won the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League and led Spain to their fourth European title at Euro 2024. Now, they are favourites to win their second World Cup after making it past the first knockout round for the first time since their 2010 triumph in South Africa.
Why have Scaloni and De la Fuente bettered the super coaches?
Scaloni and De la Fuente set up their sides to play in different ways. Spain always seek to dominate possession, while Argentina are comfortable being more reactive – a team of moments built around Messi's eternal magic. These contrasts make Sunday's final intriguing.
However, there are commonalities that set them and other successful international coaches apart from the big names who have been chewed up and spat out by this tournament.
Leading an international team acquaints a coach with the fact that things are never perfect—withdrawals for every international break, matches shoehorned in around the relentless club grind. Scaloni and De la Fuente have become experts at making the best of what they have and adapting on the fly.
Coaches at the sharp end of the club game do not have to do this to the same extent. A leader like Tuchel or Pochettino can rightly expect to go into an organisation and have everything tailored towards their needs and demands. A 38-game league season will usually reward the most meticulous coach, and the one who does not bend in pursuit of their vision over a 10-month period.
As an international coach, it doesn't pay to be rigid. If a league season is laid out in granular detail and a star midfielder misses six weeks with a hamstring injury, it's a workable inconvenience; if a key player suffers a similar ailment at a World Cup, their tournament is basically over and you have to find another way.
When Spain won Euro 2024, Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal gave them a thrillingly incisive threat down both wings. It lent their traditional passing game a new and decisive dimension. Before the World Cup, Williams and Lamine each pulled up with muscular injuries. Lamine has returned to play a full part in the tournament, but has been short of his best, while Williams has been restricted to brief substitute cameos.
De la Fuente's answer has been to change Spain's approach. They are more methodical and less direct than they were at Euro 2024, but it suits the best players they have available. Alex Baena is nothing like the same profile as Williams, but the Atletico Madrid playmaker has been an impressive ever-present on the left wing.
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Contrast that with how Tuchel dealt with Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice's injury struggles for England. Both of the Arsenal favourites are huge players for the Three Lions but arrived at the tournament with problems. In Saka's absence, Tuchel decided he needed another pacey winger who would run beyond Harry Kane. That made enough tactical sense, but Noni Madueke ended up being too much of a drop-off in terms of quality. Cole Palmer and Phil Foden – gifted technicians and essentially Tuchel's Baena options in this equation – did not make the plane.
Rice, despite being beset by neurologic pain, muscular problems and illness, was made to play and play in the England midfield for as long as he could. When Rice left the field, Elliot Anderson absolutely couldn't. It meant those two trusted lieutenants had been played into the floor by the time Argentina disrobed England in Atlanta. Kobbie Mainoo, whose smart proficiency in possession might have been very useful indeed, remained unused among the substitutes. The Manchester United youngster clearly didn't measure up to Tuchel's exacting standards, for whatever reason, but it's clearly not sensible to exclude any of your own picks from a tournament as other players drive themselves to exhaustion.
Argentina have played extra time twice and scored a couple of stoppage-time winners in a rollercoaster knockout run, but don't look tired at all. As England bunkered down in their futile defensive shell, the world champions had a coach who was nimble, ready to trust all of his squad and ask new questions. Giuliano Simeone was a surprise starter against England, while Messi and substitute Rodrigo De Paul pulled the Three Lions apart down the right flank. Scaloni smelt "blood in the water" as he put it. Tuchel, the master tactician, supposedly a cut above these such federation boys, never made the first or proactive move. Under the particular pressures of international tournament football, Scaloni coached him into a cocked hat.
There's an element of the vibesman about De la Fuente and Scaloni. They are unquestionably diligent and tactically sharp coaches, but they also seem to have a tempramental and emotional clarity that those coaches coming out of the intensive grind of club football have lacked.
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It's well established how intense, to the point of weirdness, that the best coaches can be. We've all seen the fly-on-the-wall documentaries. If you were an elite player being clattered around the head by that sort of messaging on a day-to-day basis, would you want to come to a tournament and experience more of the same?
De la Fuente and Scaloni have fostered environments built on trust. The Argentina shirt was so heavy for so long; now their players are freed and playing with a missionary zeal that makes them greater than the sum of their parts. Scaloni trusts their talent and the talent his country produces. He doesn't need to be a magician and has no pretensions to be. Leave that stuff to Messi.
"I come from a grassroots background," said De la Fuente before Euro 2024. "Our commitment to the people we trust in the youth system is not a pose, it is a conviction." This conviction is woven through Spain's play. Their top scorer at the World Cup, Mikel Oyarzabal, won the European Under-21 championship under De la Fuente. So did Unai Simon, Fabian Ruiz, Dani Olmo and Mikel Merino – each crucial to their run in North America.
In the toughest moments, he knows how deep those men can dig and they know what he'll demand of them. The same goes for Scaloni and his survivors from the wreckage of Russia 2018. Pay Ancelotti, Pochettino and Tuchel whatever you want, but that sort of edge is something that cannot be bought for big names passing through.
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