Don't cry for Lionel Messi, Argentina

Chennai: Lionel Messi’s odyssey with Argentina is over. The most loved football player of this era will not pull on the famous blue and white jersey again. It all ended in a flood of tears, not in a blaze of glory, after his country went down to Chile on penalties in the Copa America final at New Jersey on Sunday. The excruciating defeat, which extended Argentina’s trophy drought in a major senior tournament to 23 years, was too much to bear for Messi, who is only 29 years old. The talismanic forward has lost four finals in Argentina colours since 2007. “For me, the national team is over,” he said after Argentina lost a second Copa final on the trot against Chile in the same fashion. “I’ve done all I can. It hurts not to be a champion,” he added.

Messi’s final act in international football was a spot-kick high over the crossbar. It wasn’t the sort of farewell he would have envisaged for himself but that’s sport. An expert at beating a bevy of bodies for a goal in open play, he wasn’t able to get the better of a goalkeeper from 12 yards. Messi has won a truckload of trophies for Barcelona, including four Champion League and eight La Liga titles, but he has nothing to show for at international level barring the 2008 Olympics gold medal. Lionel Messi is human. Even though Messi plays for Barcelona as if he is from another planet, international football has consistently proved that the Argentine isn’t an alien. He is right to call time on his international career after yet another failure in the final of a big tournament. Messi’s decision is pragmatic and wise even if his fans — they could form half of the world’s population — might not be in a mood to accept it. The bitter truth is Messi would be better off without Argentina and vice versa.

In addition to winning their second Copa America title in succession, Chile also unwittingly brought an end to the international career of Messi on Sunday. Triggering the retirement of a legend may not be something Chile would like to wear as a badge of honour but it’s an undeniable fact that two Copa defeats on the trot have hastened Messi’s international exit. Even sporting a beard wasn’t enough to bring Messi any luck in breaking the international duck.

The spirited Chileans have also ensured that Diego Maradona’s place in the hearts of Argentine fans wouldn’t be under any threat in the foreseeable future. It would be foolish to say that his compatriots hate Messi but it’s true that they don’t love him as much as they do Maradona. Messi has exhausted his chances to replace Maradona as the most endearing Argentine hero and he can’t blame anyone else for that. Consider the opportunities Messi has blown: two World Cups and five Copas at his peak. Alfredo de Stefano, the first of Argentine football superstars, never got to play in one World Cup!

It’s true that Messi’s skill sets are slightly superior to Maradona’s but the hero of the 1986 World Cup wins the battle hands down in mental strength and leadership. Steering a team, which was at best good enough to reach the quarterfinals, to the pinnacle of world football was no mean achievement. Maradona proved that his World Cup performance wasn’t a fluke by guiding lowly Napoli to two Serie A titles later on. What Messi has been doing at Barcelona is nothing short of phenomenal but his performances in a team brimming with talent should be weighed against Maradona’s stellar single-handed efforts with Argentina and Napoli.

“Cometh the hour cometh the man” doesn’t suit Messi at all because he has hardly risen to the occasion in Argentina’s biggest matches in recent times. The grander the stage the more you can expect from great champions. Zinedine Zidane is still revered because the Frenchman always reserved his best for the last match of a tournament. It must be admitted that Messi doesn’t have the wherewithal to take the match at international level by the scruff of the neck. He is second to none in talent but the same can’t be said about his ability to inspire others. In a way Barcelona have made life easier for Messi by packing the team with top-class players such as Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Dani Alves, Neymar and Luis Suarez.

Argentina should also share some blame for Messi’s below-par show in the national colours. One of the enduring flaws of Argentina teams since the departure of Roman Riquelme is the absence of a redoubtable creative midfielder. Packing a team with forwards would be an exercise in futility if there is no one to set them up. For all Argentina’s firepower, they have scored zero goals in six hours in their last three finals.

Messi was nowhere near his best in all the three matches that went into extra time. Whether he played well or not, the focus was always on him. Without him, Argentina can hope to play as a team. One, however, has a lurking feeling that Messi would inevitably be tempted to come out of retirement for one final assault at the World Cup in 2018 but Messi can never be Argentina in the way Maradona was.