BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni renewed his contract with the national team on Thursday through 2030, putting him on track to become the first manager to lead La Albiceleste at three World Cups.
The 48-year-old Scaloni coached Argentina to the World Cup title in 2022 and a runner-up finish this year after losing the final to Spain. His previous contract was set to expire in December.
“After giving it some thought and discussing it with my coaching staff and those close to me, we decided that continuing is the best path forward,” Scaloni said at a news conference on Thursday. “We reached an agreement very quickly.”
Scaloni is the most successful manager in Argentine national team history, having also won the 2021 and 2024 Copa América titles, but had cast doubt on his future following the defeat to Spain in July. Lionel Messi — who has been instrumental to the team's success under Scaloni — has retired from the national team since that loss.
“I am grateful for all the expressions of affection,” Scaloni said, visibly moved. “A huge part of the decision to continue was, without a doubt, the fans. I want to keep bringing them the joy they feel when watching the national team, and I hope that continues.”
If he fulfils the terms of his new contract, Scaloni will become the first Argentina manager to coach the squad in three World Cups.
“I have the same drive I had on the very first day — the same enthusiasm — and I’m happy to be able to continue,” said Scaloni, who initially took over on an interim basis in 2018.
In making the official announcement, Argentine Football Association (AFA) president Claudio Tapia said: “This is the best outcome for Argentine football; it’s something everyone wanted—something we all wanted.”
Scaloni will now oversee Argentina’s generational transition following the international retirement of Messi and the inevitable departure of several veteran players unlikely to reach the next World Cup due to their age.
“An important phase in our process begins now; we will give opportunities to the youngsters who are pushing through the ranks,” Scaloni stated. “We need patience — they have enormous potential, but perhaps they aren’t yet ready to deliver what the likes of Messi, Ángel Di María, and Nicolás Otamendi provided.”
Midfielders Nicolás Paz, Franco Mastantuono, and Valentín Barco, along with forwards Matías Soulé and Gianluca Prestianni, are among the rising talents set to take on more prominent roles.
“These young players need everyone’s understanding,” Scaloni said.
Scaloni also confirmed that no one will wear Messi’s iconic No. 10 jersey during the upcoming friendlies against Uruguay and Costa Rica — La Albiceleste’s first fixtures since the star’s official retirement.
“We haven’t decided who to give it to, and we won’t until it becomes mandatory. When it does, we’ll see who gets it,” the coach revealed. “When we finally decide, we hope it’s for good — we don’t want to keep passing the No. 10 around to different players. When we do assign it, we hope it goes to a player who can truly make it his own.”
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FILE - Argentina's coach Lionel Scaloni arrives on the field prior to an international friendly soccer match against Bolivia in Cordoba, Argentina, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Nicolas Aguilera, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man in a long-running dispute over the conditions of his penthouse condo gunned down the building manager in a busy gym Thursday before fleeing and shooting four more people from his patio, shocking a popular capital neighborhood and attracting a swarm of police officers.
Matt Lambert, a 55-year-old doctor, fatally shot himself while holed up in his apartment, where he had been speaking by phone with police negotiators, said Jeffery Carroll, interim chief with the Metropolitan Police Department.
Lambert was locked in a dispute with building management over mold and moisture problems in his seventh-floor unit, court records show.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said she was “devastated” at the loss of life in a “senseless act of gun violence.”
The shootings occurred around 8 a.m. in Logan Circle, about a mile (1.6 kilometers) north of the White House. Much of the block on 15th Street Northwest was cordoned off as police urged people to avoid the area, which includes the VIDA Fitness center, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, residences and a Whole Foods store. Schools were locked down.
Law enforcement SWAT teams and other officers had their guns drawn on the roof of an apartment building and on the ground below. Carroll said Lambert shot four victims from his condo patio.
The man killed at VIDA gym on the ground floor was identified as James Stuart, 46, the building manager, the police chief said.
“There has been an ongoing dispute between the suspect” and building management, Carroll said. “We believe it's related to that.”
Lambert filed a lawsuit last year, alleging that he hadn’t been able to enjoy his penthouse since 2024 because of mold, moisture and water problems, records show. He claimed the problems began after a contractor had worked on the building’s exterior.
The litigation was ongoing, with mediation scheduled for next March, according to court filings. Lambert appeared to share his condo woes, including photos and an engineering report, on an X site titled OfMiceandMold.
James Spellman, who was at the gym, said there were about 50 people there when the shooting began.
“Within seconds there was a man who fell to the ground, and a pool of blood came out,” he said. “One gym member rushed to help him. He was instantly dead. He had been shot in the neck.”
Anthony Mirones was in the gym’s cardio area when he heard a loud bang and thought something fell off the wall. He said someone was trying to help the wounded man but then a fire alarm went off and many people ran.
“The people in cardio had to step over the body,” Mirones said.
Another witness, Ryan Dubicki, said he was in his nearby apartment around the same time when he “heard about five bangs.”
“They were really spread out so I thought it was construction,” said Dubicki, an AP employee on the elections team. A short time later “there were cops everywhere.”
The Logan Circle neighborhood has seen violence before. In early August 2025, a onetime member of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency was assaulted early on a Sunday morning in the neighborhood by a group of teenagers attempting to carjack him and a woman, authorities said.
Days later, Trump fulfilled his threat to bypass local authority and imposed direct federal control over the city, sending in hundreds of National Guard members to reduce crime. That deployment continues today.
This story has been corrected to show the interim police chief’s name is Jeffery, not Jeffrey.
Associated Press writers Ed White in Detroit, Rebecca Santana and Gary Fields in Washington, and Dave Collins in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.
CORRECTS VICTIM OF SHOOTING - Members of the Chief Medical Examiners Office wheel a gurney with a body of a man who was fatally shot at a gym, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Members of the Chief Medical Examiners Office wheel a gurney with the body of a man who fatally shot himself while holed up in his penthouse apartment, where he had been speaking by phone with police negotiators following reports of an active shooting, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
A bullet hole is seen following reports of an active shooting, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Metropolitan Police Department interim Chief Jeffery W. Carroll, stands in the doorway of the VIDA fitness center, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Local and federal law enforcement and emergency medical services respond to reports of an active shooting, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Locals look on as law enforcement respond to reports of an active shooting, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, left, speaks alongside Metropolitan Police Department interim Chief Jeffery W. Carroll during a news conference in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Local and Federal law enforcement and emergency responders, are seen responding to reports of an active shooting investigation, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Local law enforcement respond to reports of an active shooting, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Local law enforcement respond to reports of an active shooting investigation, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Local law enforcement and National Guard, are seen responding to reports of an active shooting investigation, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Local law enforcement respond to reports of an active shooting investigation, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Local law enforcement respond to reports of an active shooting investigation, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Local law enforcement respond to reports of an active shooting investigation, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
