At the 2008 Olympic Games, Román and Leo did nothing but have fun. For some reason, the duo could not consolidate.
The point is that football would have no meaning if it were a story with happy chapters. No, nothing like that. Football is frustration, ingratitude and failure. And every now and then a pleasure. That’s why there must be so many people obsessed with the ball: looking for a miracle that comes every now and then.
Within the endless list of shattered illusions and broken dreams, they are. They won everything, were recognized as the best in their territory and dominated football. And when they met, it seemed like nothing could go wrong. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Juan Roman Riquelme And Lionel Messi They played like they were lifelong friends.as if it was the last time they would enter a court, as if the only thing worth doing was having fun with each other.
THE HISTORY BETWEEN ARGENTINA AND URUGUAY
The Argentina national team, led by Sergio Batista, won the gold medal, but at the time this seemed the least: the basics of the team, especially from midfield, with Gago and Mascherano in the double five, Di María on one side and Riquelme-Messi-Agüero as an attacking trio seemed like they could become the definitive formula. But time has exhausted everything. The magic lasted only a breath. Football did not want to give up a society that seemed ready for big things.
The first coach to play for the Messi-Riquelme duo was Coco Basile (a little earlier, Pekerman gave them some minutes together at the 2006 World Cup, but without being consistent; at the 2006 World Cup, against the Netherlands, they had some fascinating sequences ).
Simple: Román as hook (usually accompanied by a double five that used to be Mascherano and Cambiasso or Gago), Messi loose in attack with another attacker (Agüero, Tevez or Crespo). The Argentina national team did just that with these players a beautiful Copa América 2007, of high flying level. But the hard blow in the final against Brasli hit the idea hard.
With the same players, the national team did not do badly at the start of the qualifying matches on the way to South Africa 2010. Riquelme, hanging in Villarreal after a fight with Pellegrini, played the first match of the World Cup qualifying without match rhythm, but he broke It . He scored two goals in the 2-0 win, followed by a positive streak (2-0 against Venezuela and 3-0 against Bolivia). Then come the doubts: defeat against Colombia 2 to 1, draw against Ecuador 1 to 1, equality without goals against Brazil, 1 to 1 against Paraguay and Peru, postponement against Uruguay and a defeat against Chile (without Riquelme, out for accumulation of yellow cards) left Basile out of the team.
What made them so special? Same tune for understanding football. Riquelme and Messi, apart from technique and skill, have the innate virtue of almost always choosing well and choosing the most favorable options for the game. So it was easy for Román to understand that the more he gave the ball to La Pulga, the better he would do. And vice versa. In Beijing 2008, some sequences were seen that were unimportant to some. For others, a magical act: Riquelme, dedicated leader and captain, for Messi. Messi, long hair, brash and promising, for Riquelme. In the middle of the field, without overwhelming markings and with space. They shared the ball.
“We do not have the same codes at the DT and we cannot work together. For me a cycle has ended,” said Riquelme on March 10, 2009. The hitch did not like some of Maradona’s words on television (“I want it is off balance in the last 20 meters and that he communicates with Messi, Aguero and Tevez. It doesn’t help me if he drops back and takes the ball from Demichelis’ feet, or if he turns Mascherano and Gago. I need him, men of him off”). It was the end. On March 28, 2009, Argentina defeated Venezuela 4–0, now without Riquelme and with Maradona on the substitute bench.
In September 2011, Sabella came up with the idea of creating a local team. He called Riquelme and Verón. When Messi was asked about his possible return to the national team, La Pulga did not hesitate: “He is a great player and would suit the style we have.” But after that, the hitch of injuries – and the coach’s lack of decisiveness for the 10- ended in nothing.
Didn’t they love each other too much off the field? Did they belong to different generations? Weren’t they friends? It’s enough to see a few sequences where they played together to bury all these theories.
Riquelme-Messi, the partnership that wasn’t. Football was in love for some reason: it did not want to give away a duo that, based on the signals it gave, could have been as great as what they represent individually.
Source: Goal