The focus has been on the Argentina captain. Messi’s relationship with the Argentina fans is a complicated one. He was dubbed ‘The Catalan’ for leaving his homeland to join Barcelona as a teenager and the perception is that he does not reproduce his brilliant club form for his country and that has not changed so far as they keep struggling in a Group D World Cup campaign that houses, Nigeria, Croatia, and Iceland, resting at the bottom with just one point to their name.
Messi, an Olympic gold medal winner who has 128 caps and 64 international goals, knows his importance to the team but the weight of expectation he feels in that role was highlighted when he retired from Argentina duty after missing a penalty in their shoot-out Copa America final defeat to Chile in 2016. Fans rallied around him and persuaded a dejected Messi to return to the international fold, giving them hope of glory once again. Sometimes he is taken for granted in Argentina, but that was the moment they realised he was irreplaceable.
A similar occurrence also repeated itself in Argentina’s 1-1 draw against Iceland in their 2018 World Cup group game where he gave away a penalty. That incident brought back the Messi-Ronaldo rivalry with fans lauding the former’s World Cup performances with Portugal – the excellent penalty he delivered against Spain to complete his hattrick in their Group B opener.
Messi has been to four World Cups already, witnessing two quarter-final defeats as well as that painful final defeat in 2014 when Mario Gotze fired Germany to the title in Brazil. He will not be fazed by the challenge, then – but this is not a vintage Argentina squad. The forward line looks impressive, with world-class strikers Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain, who can boast 68 international goals between them, both currently in Russia and still looking up to feed off Messi’s creativity which is yet to yield a good result so far. There is little Messi can do about the defence, though. Experienced goalkeeper Sergio Romero was ruled out with an injury which left the three choices to start between sticks with just nine caps between them.
In the backline, there is a collection of defenders who would be filed as good but not world class. Nicolas Otamendi, Javier Mascherano and Marcos Rojo who are tasked with being the foundation of a top-heavy team. They lost 3-1 in a recent friendly against Spain; a sign that highlighted their uphill struggle in Russia which was made vivid in their 3-0 pummelling by Croatia in their second Group B 2018 World Cup fixture. Their qualification campaign was not a smooth one, needing to win their last game against Ecuador to avoid failing to make it to the World Cup for the first time since 1970. Luckily, Messi was at his best and scored a hat-trick to see them through.
It was a signal of what he can do to dominate a fixture alone. Argentina had conceded after 40 seconds in Quito but Messi summoned his talents and energy to book their place in Russia. Now they’re there, Messi, like the man he is always compared to, Diego Maradona, has the potential to drag Argentina to the final stages but its unfortunate their World Cup hopes are now left in a dire straits following recent results. He already knows this could be his last true chance. Messi will be 35 by the time Qatar 2022 comes around. His fitness and dedication cannot be questioned, so there are no reasons why he shouldn’t part of the Argentina squad in four years’ time. And, like many players, he could drop deeper as his physical powers diminish. But this might be the last time he has the power to win big games on his own.
Messi scored 34 goals in 36 La Liga games for Barcelona last season. He was the Golden Ball winner four years ago, scoring four of his five World Cup goals en route to the final. He is a five-time Balon d’Or winner, a three-time Champions League winner with Barcelona, A 9-time La Liga winner among others. One of the most revered footballers in the world, Messi has achieved all of this and more in his 13-year spell with Barcelona. Unlike Jay Z, he doesn’t have 99 problems, he just has one which is – winning the WORLD CUP.
