The US is welcoming Messi. It is a good time to remember a bit of his story.
“I wear the number 10 jersey for the US National team in honor of the greatest athlete I have ever seen: Messi.” Kobe BryantIn the last piece, we left off talking about how Messi was always in the huge shadow of Diego Maradona in the soccer crazed minds of Argentina and when Messi had again lost in a Copa, this time to Brazil in the semi-finals and Argentina took third. Messi had gotten close again, but still hadn’t won a senior trophy.
Due to a rescheduling the Copa America was to be held in 2020, but Covid ended up moving it to 2021 and in this time a strange thing happened in Argentina’s national team. It had found the right manager in another Lionel, Lionel Scaloni, who played with Messi on the 2006 World Cup squad. He had led them to the third place showing in the 2019 Copa but was beginning to put his imprint on the team as well. He began to populate the old veterans from the Copa and World Cup wars with youngsters who had grown up in the shadow of Messi’s legend and had fresh legs to run for days and suffer for their captain who had suffered enough.
The 2021 Copa America was supposed to be held in Colombia and Argentina and be Lionel Messi’s last chance at international glory, but due to Covid it was rescheduled to Brazil with the final ending up being at home for the heavy favorites Brazil versus Argentina. Estadio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro is hallowed and holy ground for Brazil, the world’s most successful soccer country. Argentina would have to win on the road against the team that had defeated them just two years earlier. The underdog Argentina suffocated the hosts, winning 1-0 and put to rest the ghosts that Messi couldn’t win an international title for his country. His teammates lifted Messi up in the air, tossing him up into the sky over and over as Messi had finally won a senior title for his country. But the Copa wasn’t the World Cup, that was just the prologue…
Messi’s new team hadn’t lost in 36 games when it arrived at the 2022 World Cup, the second longest streak in men’s international history. They scored first in their first game against Saudi Arabia and then gave up two goals and lost their opening game in arguably the biggest upset in World Cup history. Just like that… The winning streak was over, the conversations turned back about Messi would never be Diego, Argentina couldn’t win a big game when it counted. It seemed like world stage suffering would continue. But like their captain who had been toughened through the years like a jagged chunk of iron bouncing around the pitch getting tackled by bigger and younger men but coming back each time for more. Argentina righted the ship and won their group. They won their first knockout game despite almost blowing a 2-0 lead to Australia and hanging on late for a 2-1 victory. They again went up 2-0 on the Netherlands before falling apart and conceding a tying goal in the last minute and they went to penalties tied 2-2. Messi stepped first and scored his penalty and led the way as Argentina won the shootout 4-3. He and his teammates didn’t know why they had to suffer so badly again to get the win , but suffer they did and win they did. Messi repeatedly went over to the Dutch bench to first do the goal scoring demonstration of his former Argentine captain and friend Juan Roman Riquelme (I told you we would get back to him). Messi stood in front of the Dutch manager cupping both of his ears imitating Riquleme’s goal scoring celebration decades earlier. Messi yelled and pointed to the Netherland’s manager after the match and generally was on the verge of being out of control. You see Van Gaal had repeatedly benched Riquelme and played him out of position when he coached the Barcelona team 20 years earlier. Messi had looked up to Riquelme, and never forgot the coach’s treatment of his friend. The shy quiet kid from Rosario had grown up to be a viper on the world’s biggest stage, scoring goals and settling grudges he had held for 20 years. The competitive fire erupted out of him in emotional outbursts, and his teammates and countrymen loved him for it. Despite living in Europe, he had become an Argentine.
Something else magical happened against the Dutch team during the penalty shootout. Argentina goalie Emiliano Martinez “Dibu” came up big making key saves during the penalty shootout, and when the last Argentine scorer Lautaro Martinez made the winning penalty shot, the entire team ran over to hug him, except one. Messi ran over to his goalie that had saved the team’s chances in the penalty shootout and Messi gave him a hug. We will get back to Dibu in a minute.
Argentina cruised by Croatia on Messi’s brilliance and his teammates youthful defending legs and Messi had a date with the deity again in the final but he had to get through the defending World Cup champions France and their young superstar and Messi’s teammate at his new team Paris St Germain, Kylian Mbappe.
The first 70 minutes of the final seemed like a dream. Messi scored a penalty first Next his old savvy friend Angel De Maria, a veteran of the Copa wars and World cups at age 34, finished a beautiful team goal to give them a 2-0 lead. Argentina was cruising. France made a few substitutions and then they drew a penalty and Mbappe scored the penalty and then he scored again a minute and a half later and then Argentina looked to be holding on for dear life to get to extra time. Just like the Dutch game, Argentina had blown the lead and were suffering far more than they had to. Messi would ride to the rescue with a goal in extra time, but Mbappe would answer back with another penalty making it 3-3 and finishing a hat trick in the final. The suffering was so intense that Angel De Maria had tears in his eyes for both pleasure of seeing Messi’s goal and pain when Mbappe answered. In the final minute of extra time, in the chaos that was the last 45 minutes of the match, a deflected ball somehow came down at the feet of a French player one on one vs the Argentine goalie Dibu. Dibu makes an incredible kick save that should never be forgotten as this would have ended Argentina’s hopes late in overtime just like the goal against Germany did in 2014. Mbappe went to the spot and made his and Messi walk to the spot and did the same, both super stars not flinching for their teams after trading blows for 120 minutes. Dibu saved the next two penalties and when the fourth shooter for Argentina, Gonzalo Montiel, calmly notched his shot in the back of the net, the suffering was finally over. Gonzalo was just 9 years old when Messi and Scaloni competed in the 2006 World Cup, and Mbappe was just 7. Dibu, who Messi embraced against the Netherlands, was the unsung hero. At age 35, Lionel Messi was selected the player of the tournament and became an Argentine immortal.
Ronaldinho was a Brazilian soccer player that played for Barcelona when Messi was breaking into the squad at 17, and he was kind to young Messi and looked out for and even trained with the young phenom. Ronaldinho was also friends with Kobe Bryant, the late great NBA basketball player. When Messi was just 17, Ronaldinho introduced Messi to Kobe and told Kobe that Messi would be the greatest of all time. Kobe tells it that he was stunned and said no Ronaldinho you are the best. Ronaldinho said “No, no, no.” He knew. Kobe Bryant became friendly with Messi, and they even made a great commercial together, and we will attach a link. Kobe created an alter ego for himself called “The Black Mamba” for when he was on the court. That was when Kobe was his most competitive: cold, calculating, and deadly. I wonder if Messi took a little of that “Black Mamba” and added it into his game. I see a lot of that venomous viper-like activity in Messi now, he walks around the pitch a lot and doesn’t have quite the quick burst that he used to, but when necessary, can still strike with deadly effect. Even today when Messi sees Ronaldinho at a game, he runs over to give his mentor a big hug. Messi remembers everything.
I know that Kobe stole ideas from Bill Russell about leadership and I wonder if Messi stole any ideas from those two or others because he might be a little slower on the ball, but his leadership is now world class, and it is often how great leaders win championships when their legs are showing a little age. On the Argentine team no one goes against Messi. No one. So when his young teammate Alexis Mac Allister was being teased for being a redhead “a ginger” and the team was calling him a “ginger” Messi found out about it. Messi asked Alexis if he liked being called that. Alexis said he didn’t, so Messi told the team that no one was to call Alexis the Spanish word for ginger ever again. They did not, and the admiration in Mac Allister’s eyes when he tells the story shows you how hard he would play to help win Messi a title. There is nothing that little fella wouldn’t do if Messi asked it of him. The sun might be setting on Messi’s career, but it is now his shadow that is the longest, and not just in achievement, but in how he did it.
The humility toward the older players that he still shows, the kindness he shows to others, and the virtuous way he plays the game by not flopping and by being an example for the next generation will set a high bar to follow. He is now the one to which all others will be compared, and from all the singing and dancing that he is doing while celebrating across Argentina it looks like his suffering is over and he has earned his seat at the table with the deity, Diego.
I like to think that somewhere up above Kobe and Maradona were watching when Messi hoisted that cup finally leading his team, now shaped in his toughness, into dance and song. Kobe turns to tell Maradona, look at this kid now, but Maradona is off in the corner singing and dancing to himself because that’s what Argentines do when they win, even the gods.
Messi is coming to America July 21, and he is still better than Ronaldo.
Sincerely Yours,
C Thomas Printer
On this date in history
61 years ago to be exact the Rollin’ Stones performed for the first time. As they say only the good die young..
This week’s thought experiment
It is a continuation of last week’s. I asked you to read the Declaration of Independence and to imagine that you had signed an all or nothing death warrant against the most powerful nation on earth. That is as they say in poker an “all in moment.” You are committing everything. That is what many people are feeling all around the globe right now. The Ukrainians, the Russians, the people in Mexico that have walked all the way from Central America or even farther trying to enter America. There are millions of people that are risking everything in today’s world. It is a luxury to not have to do that. We should be thankful for that.
Also born on this date
The Queen of Montmartre, La Goulue, the stage name of French can-can dancer Louise Weber, the biggest star in the history of the real Moulin Rouge.