What To Make of Lionel Messi’s International Retirement
Guys, don’t worry. Lionel Messi is going to play for Argentina again, his retirement is basically the ‘Jon Snow is Dead’ of footballing revelations. Is he retired? Yeah, maybe he is… but nobody honestly believes they won’t find a way to bring him back.
29 year olds don’t just stop playing for their country if they can help it, least of all when they’re the undisputed best player on the planet. Think of this more like an impassioned response to yet another final disappointment. For the third year in a row, Messi and Argentina have come off agonisingly second best in a major tournament – first the extra-time defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup followed by back to back penalty shootout losses to Chile in the Copa America and Copa America Centenario.
Unlike the first shootout, where Messi was the only Argentinian to score, this time he blazed his penalty well over the bar to hand the advantage back to Chile after Sergio Romero had saved Arturo Vidal’s initial effort. When Romero slapped that one away, it seemed as though Messi would finally get his trophy but from the instant he ballooned his attempt over the crossbar they were doomed. Messi leads this team by example and he had choked. Javier Mascherano and Sergio Aguero both scored but Lucas Biglia missed and Francisco Silva sealed it for Chile. Lionel Messi announced his international retirement within an hour.
Lionel Messi: “It’s difficult in this moment to do any sort of analysis. In the locker room, I thought that the national team is not for me. It’s what I feel right now. It’s a great sadness that it happened to me again, the fact that I missed a penalty kick that was very important. It’s for the good of everybody. It’s not enough to just get to the final and not win.”
Take that as you will but Messi hasn’t offered any retractions or anything. He is, for this moment in time, retired from internationals. Diego Maradona has criticised the fella in the past (self-servingly, usually) but more or less begged him to stay on. The president of the Argentine FA says he’ll speak to him in the coming days to see if he’ll reconsider. Teammates have said they’d prefer to play alongside him, rather than instead of him.
The obvious feeling is that he’s taken this latest crushing disappointment to heart and in a few weeks he’ll be able to look at this in more perspective and will probably change his mind. After all, one of these is gonna break his way eventually if they keep making finals and as long as he is there Argentina will be among the top favourites for Russia 2018. But it isn’t out of character for Messi to take a loss so personally. After losing the 2015 Copa America on penalties, Messi was supposed to be awarded the player of the tournament award but he declined to accept it, pretty much saying that it was worthless without the trophy to go with it – there’s a video of some suit trying to sneakily hide the award so that nobody would realise they didn’t hand it out that tournament.
This coming a year after he had to go and stand up on a podium at the most distraught moment of his career to accept the Golden Ball at the World Cup final. The disillusionment on his face is heart-breaking. Luckily for him Alexis Sanchez won it this time.
For the record, Messi was a worthy winner of that Golden Ball and he was then immaculate that 2015 Copa. Far and away the best player there. He sat out a few games at the start of this one not being 100%, playing off the bench initially before settling back in as a starter come the knockouts. Argentina beat Chile 2-1 in their opener but couldn’t bulge the net in the final. Gonzalo Higuain missed a great chance, Sergio Aguero missed two and Marcos Rojo was sent off less than twenty minutes after Chile had been reduced to ten men. And, you know, Chile were brilliant. They beat Mexico 7-0 in the quarters. Argentina (with Messi) is probably the world’s best international team, outside of finals anyway, but Chile is certainly in the top five – even the FIFA rankings agree and those are stupid.
It took New Zealand’s All Blacks about three or four goes to realise that you don’t win the Rugby World Cup by default for being the best team there and the football version is about five times as competitive, in terms of how many teams can realistically win it. There’s no fault in coming second, especially by such close margins. The problem is when it keeps happening and if Lionel Messi has taken it more personally with every passing runner-up, it’s only because he’s the one that is being blamed for it.
That’s the burden of leading Argentina in a post-Maradona world. For some reason it’s widely acknowledged that Diego Maradona won the 1986 World Cup all by himself, as if Jorge Valdano’s four goals were only incidental or Jorge Burruchaga’s winner for that matter. Although, to be fair Maradona did set that winner up. Quite brilliantly too, since you mention it.
And that’s the standard he’s judged upon, not only in Argentina but by the world. He was left on the bench in the 2006 World Cup as Argentina were knocked out in the quarters by Germany on penalties. By 2010 he was a superstar with Barcelona but again they fell to the Germans in the quarters, this time being comprehensively beaten 4-0 (with Diego Maradona as coach) and Messi copped it for being below his sumptuous best. Come the 2014 event there was an unfair idea that Messi never performed on the big stage. He’s a player known for a sharp sense of stage fright, often so nervous he’d throw up before important games as a younger player, but he was also a guy who by then had four Ballon D’Ors (he’s won another since) as well as three Champions League titles (again, he’s won another since – he didn’t play in the 2006 final but was arguably man of the match three years later and definitely MoM in 2011).
Messi has never been a choker, in big games the main playmakers are always targeted and minimised as much as possible. But it’s one thing for George Best not to win (or even play at) a World Cup with Northern Ireland, it’s another thing for Lionel Messi and Argentina. For whatever reason, there’s this fixation with judging players on team achievements and Messi, despite many opportunities and despite his bulging trophy cabinet of club and individual awards, actually hasn’t won anything with Argentina.
Now, to be fair it’s not as if Lil Leo has gone completely trophyless with the national team. He scored two penalties in a 2-1 victory over Nigeria in the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup (the World Youth Championships as they were known then). Not only that but he was player of the tournament and top goalscorer as well. On top of that he was a member of the 2008 Olympic team, scoring twice as Argentina won all six of their games to claim their second consecutive Olympic Gold – beating Nigeria (again) 1-0 in the final thanks to an Angel Di Maria goal. Javier Mascherano, Sergio Aguero, Ever Banega, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Sergio Romero were all in that pretty magnificent squad.
That’s the dilemma that Leo is stuck in. He’s both widely adored in his home nation and also widely scapegoated. He’s stuck in a tug of war between the national pride of having the best player and the desperation of having gone now 23 years without a World Cup or Copa America. But Messi is also a player who was developed in Spain, completely representative of the Barcelona academy. He moved there aged 11 and has been there ever since.
So of course there will be those that criticise him for not being at the same level without Xavi and Andres Iniesta and, in more recent times, Luis Suarez. As if there’s a player in the world that wouldn’t benefit by playing next to those guys. Messi isn’t some pampered joker who can’t be bothered if the situation doesn’t suit – if you think he didn’t care about winning for Argentina than you’re misreading this retirement. The thing is, this Argentinian side is stacked. Aguero and Higuain have scored buckets of goals for Manchester City and Napoli and failed here on this stage. Angel Di Maria wasn’t much of a factor after the group stages, Ezequiel Lavezzi was injured for the final after playing great most of the tournament. He now plays in China. Their defence was mostly very good but Javier Mascherano has also retired now. Aguero and Higuain, two other major lightning rods of blame, are considering the same. Things are a bit chaotic there.
Which is why Messi’s decision may not have been as reactionary as it appeared. The other day he slammed the Argentine FA on an Instagram post after the team was left waiting in transit, labelling it a “disaster”. He’s not entirely wrong there, the AFA is currently under the guidance of a FIFA ‘normalising committee’ after a bit of a shambles involving domestic league TV rights, a breakaway ‘Super League’ and a presidential election that somehow ended up with more votes cast than representatives present.
"Once again waiting on a plane to take off for our destination .. What a disaster the AFA is, for God's sake !!!!"
Three years in a row Messi has competed in international tournaments during his off-season. That’s a committed player right there, though it obviously isn’t all that fun or rewarding given the state of things. The team’s losing, the FA can’t tell their arse from their elbow and everyone’s blaming him for it. He needs a break.
But just imagine in two years’ time when Lionel Messi announces his plans to return to the national team, the banished hero returning from his exile to redeem himself to his people. Like Simba returning to Pride Rock, like Luke Skywalker returning to face Darth Vader, like whatever the hell is in store for Jon Snow now. Imagine Lionel Messi coming back just in time for the World Cup in Russia where he leads his nation to a cathartic World Cup title that silences the critics once and for all, beating Spain in the quarters, Chile on penalties in the semis and scoring the winner as Argentina come from a goal down to topple their old rivals Germany in the final.
It’d make for quite the story, right?