Messi goes 'missing' from World Cup, leaves Argentina on the brink
There was no magic and an excess of reality in the gruesome display by Argentina on the football field of Niznhy Novgorod against Croatia on Thursday night.
Following a month of media hype that spread from Argentina to Russia, the Messi brand was hyped up while the man on the pitch remained as small, introverted and enigmatic as ever. If the first match against Iceland had left one gasping for air, a solitary point with a new burden for Lionel Messi to live with (the failed penalty), the second Act saw him reduced even further. The shadow of Maradona may be a contributing factor to the tiny genius’ mental block when it comes to the national team, but he wasn’t even able to be a shadow of himself on the night they most needed to recover.
But no. By the 75th minute the Spanish statistical wizard @2010MisterChip confirmed in a tweet what would become one of the many damming statistics to tarnish the GOAT: goal-keeper Willy Caballero – about whom more later – had attempted more passes than Messi, 39 and 33 respectively.
Most of the criticism levelled at Leo from his usual critics echoed what they had maintained before. Nothing new, just further weight leant to their arguments by the 90-minute-long meltdown. But even staunch Messi defenders appeared lost for words. Many who have been saying for a few years now that they support Messi rather than Argentina, simply reiterated that their now infinite, deep sorrow, was also more for Messi than for Argentina.
He’s depressed, some argued (and will no doubt continue to argue as this conversation is likely to unravel for years to come), while others bellowed, some on national TV, that they’re sick and tired of hearing that Messi is depressed. That the kid’s not up to the task of being the Nation’s Number Ten; that it’s time to put a stop to the camaraderie and a**e-licking (sic) and allowing him to call the shots when he’s clearly unable or unwilling to do so.
The personalised vitriol aimed at Messi is extreme, but he is not the only recipient of the frustrations of 40 million wannabe managers. Willy Caballero, the goalkeeper whose much questioned inclusion in the starting eleven was justified by manager Sampaoli with claims that ‘he was good with his feet’, instigated jokes about him being less good with his hands after the first match. But after the second very few can see the funny side – albeit there is a certain irony in his blatant mistake. Sampaoli once made reference to the fact that Caballero was a much-liked member of the team, that he ‘got on well with the others’, further feeding the flames that would flare up to full fire.
Sampaoli himself tried to throw some damp cloth around at the post-match conference, blaming himself and his system, and saying Caballero and Messi were not to blame. So the triad of culprits in the eyes of the public was confirmed: Caballero’s mistake seemed almost a laughable anecdote in light of the annulled Messi, and both are either guilty of obeying Sampaoli’s chaotic non-plan, or of imposing their wishes on him, in turn making the manager a national disgrace for succumbing to Messi’s pressure, or over-riding him with his own non-plan.
The sorry sight of a broken team dragging themselves aimlessly around the pitch rendered what might have been a comical defence totally humourless. It was in a shambles, and whereas defeat could be regarded as an unavoidable professional hazard of football matches, this was worse than defeat. This was rendition. This chronicle had been foretold.
For a number of years, football in Argentina has all but collapsed institutionally, politically, and in a sporting sense. Sampaoli arrived to steer a sinking ship, faced with a group of players who were at the end of their tether, quite literally, having lost three major finals in a row and labelled as losers by the mainstream press.
Angel Di Maria confessed he needed therapy, Gonzalo Higuáin repeatedly mentioned that he scored 300 goals and was forever stuck to the one he missed, Sergio Agüero told the world’s press that those comments hurt. And this when the country was struggling to qualify for the World Cup.
Top Comment
whats wrong with the media...its just a game...why point out one person and defame him...he is just a player not god..Ruban Dsouza
To balance these tired, exhausted and drained men, the manager tried a number of new recruits, changing formations and players as often as they played (which wasn’t very often at all). Young men with little international experience found themselves attempting to defend and play-make on the world’s most competitive elite stage and ended up chasing their own tails.
The disaster is by no way definitive and a third Act will follow, with a slim mathematical chance of going past the group stage. But it’s almost as if the supportive thing to do at this stage is wish them all to be spared any further agony. Especially Messi. He never wanted this. And he certainly doesn’t deserve it. Nobody does.