La Scaloneta: the Program without a name that gave its name to the National Team

Where did the nickname by which all Argentines call the three-time world champion come from? The true story with exclusive testimonials.

As Christ had his John the Baptist, La Scaloneta did not emerge from a cabbage. The Nicknamewhich is now familiar to all the fans, in which they even recognize themselves behind the scenes of the National Team beyond a certain admitted discomfort that it causes the coach himself -because he is in the center of the scene or because of his excessively informal nature-, was born at midnight on TyC Sports with the Nameless Program.

The first thing to come up was the train of Scalonismo, that like the vast majority of things that happened in the program, It went against the grain of general opinion. Almost as a rule and as a search. While everyone attacked Scaloni based on his lack of experience and they even questioned his ethics for having accepted to be Jorge Sampaoli’s successor after having integrated his coaching staff in the chaos of Russia 2018, PSN took his side. On the side of the type she had no fans, much less bloated.

Not even within the program were they all on the train -the need to set up a confrontation-, and in the nights of Copa América of 2019when already at dawn the program appeared in his version Let’s shout about football -a parody and a smiling criticism of the debate programs-, from the panels the false discussions were lit. Sometimes until 2 in the morning and in an inadmissible volume for those hours for most people but celebrated by the legion of followers who interacted on social networks.

The nickname arose as a derivative of escalonismo, while In the program the driver was celebrated for everything: from the bad jokes or in unknown code within the press conferences -like the time he greeted his wife, who was in a corner of the room- until their bike crash in Spain. With the image of the bruised face of the technical Lionel, they even made masks that the PSN members themselves always had on hand to “pay homage” to him.. And each decision, each declaration, was supported by chanting his name: “I escalate, I escalate.” especially that unforgettable “If we skip the game with Venezuela, the National Team arrives well”with which today’s world champion DT surprised the press after a historic defeat on a tour that, moreover, had barely included a meager victory over Morocco.

The passage of time and the triumphs, the improvement in the performance of the National Team, the compliance with their calls, gradually made that forced and sarcastic support become real. As it happened with everyone. But with a fundamental difference: the first to bank it was the Nameless Program. The creators of the nickname, too. Take it easy guys. We will not charge copyright. Or yes, you never know.

Photo: Maja Hitij – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images