Gulping a mouthful of water from the table, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni cleared his throat and told the media manager sitting beside him: “You need to translate this, it’s important now, in English. Very, very clean English.”The media manager looked amusedly at him, even though he could have understood the premise. “I don’t have any superstition,” he clarified, resisting laughter and trying to put on a stern face but failing horribly.The reporter’s question was on Scaloni’s habit of wearing the same shoe (or rather, sneaker) for every game. The manager, after another swig of water, narrated how he forsook the ritual. “I had one in the previous World Cup. I used the same pair of shoes during a winning streak. Then we lost to Saudi Arabia, and I had to take it off. So I said, ‘bye shoes.’ From there on, I didn’t have any.”ALSO READ | Never mess with Messi: A lesson Spain can learn from Bellingham’s bravadoThe reporter interrupted again: “What about entering the ground with the right foot?” Scaloni wanted to negate it, but couldn’t: “No, no, yes, yes. It’s an old one, I enter with my right foot, but I did that when I played too, right?” It was the last question of the interaction, and he left the reporter and the floor for another story trail: “I imagine that the rest of the coaching staff must have some superstition or other. I don’t have many.”Two days before the final between Argentina and Spain, a match of engrossing subplots, managers Scaloni and Luis de la Fuente were in a mood of wit, jokes and eloquent explanations, deflecting from the central themes of the game. Perhaps that’s how they wanted the interaction to be — a light-hearted affair. Both had the charm and way with words to pull it off as well. Spain’s Rodri listens as head coach Luis de la Fuente speaks during a news conference ahead of the World Cup final against Argentina in New York. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)Rodri and Emiliano Martinez, Spain’s captain and Argentina’s goalkeeper/wind-up merchant, were rather curtly matter-of-fact, resorting to platitudes. More worried than the players were the journalists of the two nations. Before the session, some of them assembled in a corner and animatedly discussed who would ask which questions. “De la always gives headlines,” one would say.Story continues below this adALSO READ | Argentina almost lost Messi to Spain. A payphone hunt saved himHe didn’t give headlines, but plenty to laugh about. De la Fuente, an imposing presence with his piercing eyes and stocky frame, found the funnier side of everything. He called reporters by their first names and whipped up wisecracks with a straight face. “Are you worried about anything before your first World Cup final?” He thought for a second, and then came up with a gem: “We came by a helicopter, and we have to fly back once the press conference is over. That really makes me nervous.” Cue ripples of laughter. A few smartphones mounted on monopods fell off, as the videographers were lost in his humour.The obvious question didn’t take too long to strike. Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal, the two titular figures of the game. Yamal is not only predestined to be Messi’s spiritual successor at Barcelona, but also his country’s first footballing megastar. Spain, of course, had Alfredo Di Stéfano and Raúl, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta, but none exuded a superstar persona. “Messi is one of a kind; he’s an immense talent and, above all, an example for younger athletes,” he said. “But Lamine has to be Lamine.”Story continues below this adA predictable question struck Scaloni too. On his bond with mentor De la Fuente. “Well, it’s not that we know everything about each other. We are friends, but he doesn’t know exactly what I think about football,” he emphasised. He lucidly elaborated on their styles. “What we’d know is how each other’s teams play; he knows how mine plays, and I know how his team plays. We haven’t sat down to discuss our respective patterns, but they’re evident. Both like time on the ball,” he said.Both are possession-reliant. “But with some nuances,” he added. Argentina enjoy passive possession, wherein they pass the ball between themselves simply to frustrate the opponent. Spain, contrastingly, are quicker in advancing to attacking positions with the ball. “They string together a lot of passes and are vertical.”ALSO READ | Scaloni criticises FIFA for forcing Argentina into ‘strange’ World Cup final trainingWhat Scaloni didn’t say was that they are equally comfortable without the ball. They could go minutes without having the ball and then suddenly launch a blizzard from nowhere. He also has a penchant for tactical surprises, like playing Ángel Di María in the 2022 Qatar World Cup final. A wide-man took France aback; a narrow midfield suddenly became wider, and France didn’t have the personnel to cope with it. De la Fuente is not prone to impulses; the alterations he makes are carefully weighed before they are executed.Story continues below this adBoth admired each other’s teams. “If Spain leaves the hotel, I am already concerned,” said Scaloni. “Once they are on the bus and they leave the hotel, I am concerned.”De la Fuente dwelled on the trophies Argentina have won in the last four years: “Copa, World Cup, Copa… they have won all tournaments in which they have reached the final. But I focus on what I can control, which is the performance of our own players.” Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni speaks during a news conference on Friday. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)Scaloni then spoke about the reason he has cried after almost every other game, unlike in the past where he had been famously cold-faced. “It’s because you see your people celebrating, see how happy they are… that gets to you; it really touches you, and it’s impossible for it not to move your heart.”ALSO READ | ‘I already completed the game in Qatar’: Messi ahead of World Cup 2026 finalStory continues below this adDe la Fuente had half a jab at Argentina’s intense physicality: “Referee Slavko Vinčić must not be lenient or allow anyone to cross the limits of the law or go beyond what the rules of football permit.”He then turned to Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius’s quotes: “What brings no benefit to the hive, brings none to the bee. Players should have that mindset where you need to work for the collective good.”He scanned his eyes from one corner of the room to the other, where at least a hundred journalists were assembled, and said philosophically: “You ask me about the trick of winning. I will tell you. Work, work and work. I see that most of you are younger than me, and you should keep working. Never stop. The experience is amazing, when everything works out,” he said.Everything, he would know, would work out for only one team on Sunday. Both managers would be praying that the team would be theirs.