Messi and what a mess!
That should be the agonized cry from the vanquished Argentine camp, as the Argentina national team fell short, yet again, to clinch the Copa America, which Chile, the defending champions, retained 4-2, after penalty shootout, after regulation and extra time ended in a barren draw.
For Argentina, with the mercurial Lionel Messi, arguably the most talented footballer of his generation, it was three straight defeats, in three straight finals, in three straight years!
In 2014, it was at the World Cup in Brazil. In 2015, the Copa America in Chile. And now, 2016, it is, again, Copa America in the USA.
The Argentine failure, in this special Copa America centenary (the first tournament was in 1916), may well underscore Messi’s epochal failure for Argentina, despite his fair personal claim as the best footballer ever, after Pele, the Brazilian great and three-time World Cup winner and Diego Maradona, Messi’s compatriot, as hugely controversial as he is hugely talented!
To make matters worse for Messi, the tempestuous Marasona snaps at his heels. Even before the latest Copa debacle, before Argentina made a mincemeat of the not-so-innocent hosts, USA, with a four-goal drubbing in the semi-final, Maradona had dismissed Messi as lacking leadership, to lead Argentina anywhere.
Maradona is perhaps gloating right now! First, he has bragging rights. When Maradona ruled the roost in global football, he won the World Cup for his country.
Then, the bad tempered Maradona — and perhaps, the equally hurting Argentines — would equate the fluke of a penalty shootout loss, in a crucial final, as confirmation of Maradona’s leadership charge.
Yet, it is not clear if history would not be far kinder to Messi, than it would ever be to Maradona. For one, Maradona, despite his prodigious skills, was at best a flawed genius. At his first World Cup at 18, at Espana 82 World Cup, he was red-carded for viciously kicking a Brazilian opponent in the groin. At 17, Pele had won the World Cup, at his first try.
But even at the height of his glory in Italia 90, his first goal against England, in that great match, was fraudulent self-help. That Maradona promptly appropriated that goal, even after TV camera evidence showed it was carefully palmed in, as some “hand of God”, showed one with an intrinsic penchant to cheat.
Though he would later score a goal of sheer genius, after single-handedly routing the whole England team, the terrible chink in his character was established. That would become irrevocably etched with his later doping scandals.
Not Messi. Though he too earned a yellow card for diving in the June 27 Copa final defeat, he has been a far fairer athlete than Maradona. Character-wise, therefore, he would appear to tower above Maradona, despite his puny size.
Still, Messi would lug the unenviable record of never winning , for his country, the World Cup, as the world’s greatest player of his era: a feat both Pele (thrice) and Maradona (once) achieved. But he, at the Copa, emerged as Argentina’s highest ever goal scorer, so far, for the national team, besting Gabriel Batistuta’s record.
But that would appear cold comfort, after the umpteenth loss, in three consecutive finals!
Messi has turned his back on his national team by sensationally announcing his retirement. Argentina would miss him; and so would the world, in Argentine colours.
But his exit couldn’t have been messier, exiting on the low. How would history capture it? Messy exit for Messi, perhaps?
O, what messy business, the exit of this prodigy called Messi is!
