We currently live in a world filled with exceptional athletes that are breaking sporting records at almost every turn. Football is no different, for the past decade, players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have excelled and played at a level no fan or pundit knew existed. Every year they have raised the bar and left fans in awe. But what all of this has led to is the inhumane expectations that athletes now have to endure, and this is the unfortunate story of Messi and Argentina.
“In football, it is nigh on impossible to have a “one-man team,” and when a team is genuinely reliant on one or two players to achieve anything, it never ends well.” – Hugo Jennings (Last Word on Sports).
Coincidentally, the words from Hugo Jennings are in relation to the 1986 Argentina football squad, the last time they won the World Cup. However, now Hugo’s words haunt Lionel Messi and Argentina. World Cup 2018 was the continuation of what has been an ongoing narrative for the country over the last five years with them relying on one man to solve all their problems. It was also a further illustration that the expectation of greatness is now at an extraordinarily high level, one that is almost unattainable.
Over the last ten years, FC Barcelona has been one of the most dominant and beloved football clubs in the world. The Catalan club has made a habit out of winning big trophies, but it’s the skillful and breathtaking manner in which they win that has made them favorites among neutral fans. Also for the past decade, one man has been an essential piece to the Barcelona puzzle, Lionel Messi.
The little Argentinean’s trophy-laden career is astonishing with two trebles to his name, nine league titles, four Champions League’s, six Copa Del Rey’s, and three Fifa Club World Cup’s. If that wasn’t enough, Messi has won five Ballon d’Or’s (Player of the Year Award), and he has the all-time record for goals scored in a calendar year when he hit the back of the net ninety-one times in 2012.
He has glided past six players to score goals, ran half the length of the pitch, and left players lying on the floor embarrassed on the biggest stages in football. Many have joked, he has the ball glued to his feet because his control is unmatched by any other player. But unfortunately, he is a victim of his own success. Instead of being appreciated, people still question his ability and expect so much more from him.
“People take note of what you don’t have.” – Gerard Pique (Messi – The Film).
It’s a rather cruel world we live in when a person has accomplished as much as Messi has; is still labeled as a failure. In Messi’s case, he has yet to win a title with his country, Argentina. More importantly to critics and Argentineans, he has not won the Holy Grail, the World Cup. It’s the one blemish on his career, and it feels like the one fact people mention more than anything else.
For this year’s World Cup, Argentina was a broken team with underperformers and aging stars, and their game plan was the same one they’ve had for the past five years, Messi. The manager Jorge Sampaoli even told the media that everything they did tactically was an attempt to get the best out of their main man. The superstar had to carry the team and the hopes and dreams of a nation of over forty million people who treat football as a religion. The word pressure does not even do justice to what Messi must have been experiencing in Russia; the burden the man had to deal with was just unfair and cruel.
With no one else capable of influencing Argentina’s attack, except Messi, the title of scorer and creator were both given to him. However, in Russia, they struggled defensively as well, as they were unorganized and severely lacking in speed to catch opposition attackers. They also had a goalkeeper who conceded goals that would embarrass a teenager playing at school. But through all of this, they somehow made the knockout stages where they lost four-three to eventual champions France.
Truthfully, Argentina’s ending was far more respectable than they deserved. Messi’s influence on and off the pitch saved them from an early exit, and he even made them the only team that came close to defeating France in the knockout stages by assisting two goals. But this wasn’t how it was supposed to end; the nation’s superstar was meant to fix all their problems. He was supposed to score goals to cancel out Argentina’s horrible defence, and he was somehow meant to guide a team that had no other thought except give the ball to him. Messi was expected to be Superman.
"Argentina right now depend on Messi ten times more than we depended on Maradona in 1986.” - Former Argentina striker Pedro Pasculli
The comparisons to Diego Maradona, who many consider the best player in history, has not helped Messi. Maradona is the man who “single-handedly” led Argentina to their last World Cup in 1986, but in reality, that is a false narrative generated by the media.
The 1986 team was far more than just Maradona. He was their captain, and star, however, he had a world class team and coach supporting him. A focused and organized defence kept opposition teams out in the 1986 World Cup, meaning they conceded only three goals on route to the final that year. In comparison, the 2018 Argentina team conceded nine goals in only four matches.
Also, Diego Maradona’s god-like status was nonexistent before the 1986 tournament. He was a rather negative figure who was deemed a troublemaker on and off the pitch. Unlike the heir to his throne, Messi, he did not have to shoulder the responsibility of an entire nation.
Luck plays an important part in every athlete's success. For Maradona, it was an illegal goal now famously dubbed the “hand of God” to knock England out of the World Cup in the quarter-final. Even Messi experienced a little fortune with Barcelona when they edged past Chelsea in the semi-final of the Champions League in 2009. However, that luck has eluded the superstar in international tournaments.
The lack of luck and support needed to achieve the highest honors in a team sport has meant failure on more than one occasion for the Barcelona star. Despite being inches away from helping his country win silverware in 2014 when he led them to a World Cup final, Messi is still the target for criticism. It’s even gone as far as people questioning his patriotism because he did not sing the national anthem before a game.
All the pressure and heartache has even led him to retire from Argentina. But because of his boyhood dream of playing for his country, every time Argentina has needed a savior, Messi has been there.
Such consistent brilliance is so difficult to come by, Messi’s greatness should be embraced, should be a source of inspiration, and not be the subject for petty comparisons and burdened by expectations that are next to impossible to meet. We forget what our sports heroes are. Despite the mesmerizing skills they showcase to the human beings around the world, they are just that, human beings. Messi is not divine, he is not God, but with everything he has accomplished, even his supposed failures with the national team, he has proven he is great.
Written in June 2018 (NEVER BEEN PUBLISHED!)
Comments