mug for a lifetime
The 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar at one point turned into a one-goal tournament. Lionel Messi has become the center of the world forum. At one point, everything seemed to revolve around the captain of the Argentina national team.
Everyone was waiting for him to crown his glorious and absolutely brilliant career with a victory in the World Championship, which he was sorely lacking, despite his fifth appearance in this tournament. And at the age of 39 it was clear that in the USA, Canada and Mexico this title would be more difficult to achieve.
It is not certain that Messi will play until the 2026 World Cup, and until then it is unlikely that he will have as much influence on world football as he is now. For example, 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo clearly passed and was not able to drag Portugal over Morocco in the quarterfinals, but also overall lost his place at the head of the national team during the championship.
Fans wished Messi good luck, not Argentina, PSG and Barcelona, to which he devoted almost his entire career. For him, commentators (at least Russian ones) without hesitation supported him on the air, active football players and stars of the past, many of whom now act as experts, spoke about the necessity and even somewhere inevitability of his victory.
At some point, everything started to spiral out of control – the World Cup had never before turned into an existing event for any player.
But Messi (and Argentina) won! He scored an attack against France in the final, scoring from the penalty spot in regular time and overtime from the field before transforming another try in the post-match series.
And now Lionel Messi is not only the six-time winner of the Golden Ball, the winner of various club tournaments and the winner of the America’s Cup with the national team, but also the world champion.
Happy Argentina
For many, the question of Messi’s success in Qatar 2022 arose from the fact that such a great career should not be left without a great title in world football. Without a world championship, the Argentine’s exploits looked a bit inferior and left a feeling of awkwardness. And now no one can argue that Pele, Diego Maradona or Ronaldo took the gold of the main tournament in the world, but Leo did not. Argentine fans can safely call him the best player in the history of football, opponents are deprived of the main argument.
But is this title really that important? If we evaluate the individual career of the player, of course. Yes for Argentina as a country obsessed with football. The Albiceleste team won the World Championships in 1978 and 1986. The country was led by Mario Kempes and Diego Maradona to the championships, after which the country waited 36 years.
Messi was born when Argentina was the current world champion, but during his lifetime gold was just a dream. I had to experience defeats, including in the finals: under Maradona in 1990 and when Lionel was recognized as the best player of the tournament in 2014.
The captain and his teammates delighted the entire nation, which seemed to go crazy throughout this tournament and – especially – after the victory. Worth it.
great career
Of course, the title of world champion is very important. It was a dream come true for Messi himself. Perhaps a definitive idea, like chasing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goalscoring record for Alexander Ovechkin.
The Argentine great forward may have felt a certain inadequacy without this gold. With it, its size increased even more.
Still, it would have been no less if Lionel Scaloni’s team in Qatar had not triumphed. Such is the paradox.
Messi’s career should be looked at differently. First of all, football is a team sport. One person cannot win alone. We are currently on the verge of a potentially huge rivalry between Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, but Erling Haaland, a Norwegian national, will be doomed from the start if trophies are needed in the national team for consideration.
Yes, Messi was born a representative of the football nation and was lucky in that regard. Besides ending up in Barcelona, where he grew up and was treated with injections of growth hormone, which helped to overcome the problem of the natural underdevelopment of the body.
But after all, those who see the Argentine as the best in football history do not do it because of individual and team trophies. These are just some kind of validation. And the main thing here is the magic of the striker game.
And no one will take it away from talent fans. It cannot be devalued. Messi has already left a rich legacy and naturally rewrote many records along the way.
Even without the title of world champion, he would have had six Golden Balls, America’s Cups, the Olympics, Finalissima, four Champions League titles, ten Spanish titles, French titles and much more.
To list their individual trophies, one A4 page wouldn’t be enough if printed in a standard-size font, and it broke even more records of all genres.
You don’t need gold earned in Qatar to appreciate Lionel Messi’s greatness. Your career is just the icing on the cake.
The biggest in history?
But now, as many experts say, Messi with the status of the best in history, everything is far from so simple. Here we must understand that it is very difficult to compare actors from different eras, especially those who played different roles.
Football is changing, but there have always been challenges in the game. Would Pele have been a superstar in modern football? It seems so, but who really knows? Like the Argentine, he would most likely be a star had he been born in the olden days. Like Maradona, Brazilian Ronaldo, and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, they were given a great football talent.
But there were others. Franz Beckenbauer, Lev Yashin, Johan Cruyff, Manuel Neuer – for example, these players have often changed their minds about their role in football. And how many more was great!
And how much will it be? Even now, with Messi taking the title of MVP of the 2022 World Cup, this decision is actually quite controversial, although emotionally it may seem like the only correct one.
The Argentine captain scored four of his seven goals in the tournament from the penalty spot, while French leader Kylian Mbappe scored eight goals and scored six. He differed from the penalty spot only in the final game, where he became the second hat-trick writer in the history of the world forums after Jeff Hurst! 56 years later!
At the same time, Mbappe surpassed everyone, including Messi, in this World Cup by many statistical indicators, and certainly gave space-level football as an equally important player for his team.
In the end, Messi won the 2014 World Cup MVP title after losing the final despite not scoring a single goal in the playoffs. This time, however, Mbappe had no chance – it was the Leo tournament.
However, the French striker from PSG is already a world champion and finalist at the age of 23 (same achievements as Messi). For two world forums, he scored one goal less than Argentina in five, and before record holder Miroslav Klose – just four hits.
Also, Mbappe has more Champions League goals than both Messi and Ronaldo of their age, and both have broken all career goalscoring records.
So definitely don’t call Messi the best of all time. Especially because of the victory in the World Cup. Many people have won the World Football Forum. For example, Pele did this three times.
Messi is the undisputed hero of his time, but certainly not the last hero in the world. There will be more. And it’s already there.