.jpg?trim=0,0,0,0&width=1200&height=800&crop=1200:800 "Pizza Hut to be sold by Yum! Brands in .7 billion deal – UK Times")
Even now, as a World Cup winner whose name has been attracting thousands to Argentina’s pre-tournament training sessions, we still see such self-effacement in Lionel Messi.
When FIFA asked Argentina’s players to each state their names, for a video which they would share, most played the fool. Rodrigo De Paul pretended to ride a motorcycle, in keeping with his nickname ‘Motorcito’, or ‘Little Engine.’ Leandro Paredes kissed his tattoos, Gio Lo Celso juggled a ball, and Alexis Mac Allister pretended to drink mate tea. Messi? Well, he just stated his name.
It was unclear after the crowning achievement of his career in Doha, three and a half years ago, whether he would appear at the World Cup again. He didn’t even materialise at his own man-of-the-match press conference on that unforgettable night.
But here he is once more, in a squad who open against Algeria at Kansas City in the early hours of Wednesday. As the respected Argentinian sports title Ole has observed, ‘La Pulga’ – ‘the flea’, as he is universally known – could have retired ‘in all the glory of the national team’ but was ready to put it on the line again. Ready to risk drawing down the blinds with ignominy and anti-climax, if things don’t go well.
There certainly is such a risk, since Messi has been playing at nowhere near the same level of club football as he had been before the Qatar World Cup. His 14 MLS and two Concacaf Champions League games this year don’t hold a candle to the 13 Ligue 1 and five Champions League matches in the six months which formed the build-up last time. The competitive level bears no comparison.
It was unclear after the crowning achievement of his career in Doha, three and a half years ago, whether he would appear at the World Cup again
Even now, as a World Cup winner whose name has been attracting thousands to Argentina’s pre-tournament training sessions, we still see such self-effacement in Lionel Messi
Messi is attempting to become just the second Argentinian after Daniel Passarella to win the World Cup twice
The 21 minutes he played against Iceland in a pre-tournament friendly in Auburn, Alabama, suggested that the left hamstring injury he picked up in an MLS match for Inter Miami on May 24 was not troubling him. Yet neither that brief appearance, nor Argentina’s easy warm-up games against Mauritania and Zambia told us much about an individual who will turn 39 during the tournament.
You’ll find no-one in Argentina who thinks he should not be here, though, and in part that stems from that modesty. Whilst some in Portugal believe the more demanding Cristiano Ronaldo should have stepped away this time, Messi is still universally seen as a totemic presence. But while the expression ‘Messi y 10 más’ (‘Messi and 10 others’), referencing his vast on-field influence, is still common parlance in Buenos Aires, those who know the team best say that his game time must now be rationed like never before.
‘We have to be careful regarding Messi and this World Cup,’ Juan Sebastian Veron, who played in three World Cups for the country, recently told Argentinian media. ‘If we think he can play every match and so on – well, I’m not so sure. I believe he needs to be helped, and he also has to be willing to accept that help. That part is tricky, too.’
Lionel Messi and Juan Sebastian Veron played together at the 2010 World Cup
The position of strength now held by Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni will be beneficial in such a process of negotiation. In Qatar, Scaloni was still building a reputation and hugely deferential towards Messi. He related in his press conference after Argentina’s extraordinary final win over France the story of how the No 10 had called him after a defeat to Brazil early in his tenure, urging him have faith in himself. Now, the balance has shifted. Scaloni can approach Messi with more confidence.
In Qatar, Scaloni had Alexis Mac Allister operating as Messi’s runner, covering extra ground to allow the maestro to employ his artistry without running out of fuel. Veron sees Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernández, and Lautaro Martínez playing those support roles at this World Cup, though Messi may be more peripheral than ever. It’s hard to picture him as a substitute, but that could be a possibility. He still requires only moments to affect the course of game.
Some feel that Argentina have improved their method of using him in these twilight years. ‘It has not gone unnoticed by anyone that he is no longer that lightning-fast, unpredictable player; nor has the fact that he is wiser, and that the team knows how to both contain and utilize him,’ said sportswriter Abel Gilbert.
In the build-up here, Messi has certainly looked like an individual carrying less burden. His countrymen are here in big numbers, with their ubiquitous ‘Vamos Argentina!’ anthem issuing through Kansas City, where the squad, including 17 of the 26 players who triumphed in Qatar, have made a base at a spot on the banks of the Missouri river. But that first World Cup triumph for 36 years seems to have lifted the clouds.
In the build up, Messi has certainly looked like an individual carrying less burden
Messi’s 14 MLS and two Concacaf Champions League games this year don’t hold a candle to the 13 Ligue 1 and five Champions League matches in the six months which formed the build-up last time
After the Iceland game, Messi cheerfully held court in the mixed zone – something extremely rare for him. It was after the earlier win over Zambia that he posted an image on Instagram in national team colours with the caption ‘Argentina siempre’ (‘Argentina always’) – his first real hint that he was fit for the summer. Argentina was sent into ecstasy.
He has the chance to be part of the back-to-back World Cup wins – a feat previously achieved only by Italy (1934–1938) and Brazil (1958–1962) – and to stand alongside Daniel Passarella as Argentinians who have twice held this trophy aloft.
Just before Argentina headed out here, Messi also posted on Instagram about Indio Solari, one of the iconic figures of Argentine rock, after news of his sudden death had come down, and beneath an image of the singer included a line of his lyrics. ‘I start at the end, I’ll finish at the beginning,’ it read.
He seemed to be saying that he is as all-in for this as he was on the day when his own journey began. As always, it is he who carries Argentina’s hopes.
