A Messi situation
How the world’s best footballer parked a diplomatic row
How do you get from United States Major League Soccer friendly to Chinese public throwing its weight behind British rule of the Falklands Islands in fewer than three moves? Never let it be said that modern football has lost its capacity for surprise.
When Inter Miami flew to Asia they had modest aims. Gain some match fitness and make some friends. Instead, their preseason tour has created outrage as the gap between expectation and reality widened to unsustainable proportions.
An injured Lionel Messi could not be roused from the bench in Miami’s 4-1 victory against Hong Kong’s local League XI. Judging by the reaction, those present had not bought tickets to catch a glimpse of former Sunderland disappointment DeAndre Yedlin. Some fans started chants
of “refund”, truly ugly stuff. Keep those where they belong: protests outside Ocado HQ when it delivers soggy carrots one too many times.
China is unamused, especially after Messi rallied to play the final half hour three days later against Japan’s Vissel Kobe. There have been mutterings of conspiracy and a deliberate political snub as the row continues to simmer, nearly two weeks since the game.
China’s friendlies against Argentina scheduled for March have been cancelled. Miami owner David Beckham was booed.
Even Beckham’s Instagram is not safe. In a video plugging his branded fragrances, one user writes: “This behaviour has fatal damage to the credibility of the Miami club,” presumably referring to the disappointment of missing Messi, not a topless Beckham buttoning up his shirt. “Players who do not obey the club’s co-operation are selfish betrayers”.
Another user claimed her 8-year-old
son had “cried himself to sleep” after the Hong Kong game.
The people are also hitting the nation of Argentina where it hurts: in comments on its social media channels. On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, posts from the Argentina Embassy are now met with responses like “The Malvinas Islands are part of the UK. They were before, they are now, and of course, they will always be in the future. Your country doesn’t have the capability to take them back either.”
The region’s customs have been the undoing of several stars before Messi.
The Beatles were drummed out of Manila in 1966 for declining an invite for chocolate Digestives with Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos. George H W Bush vomited into the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa in 1992, failing to pass it off as a sign of great respect in Texas. Snoop Dogg may never be invited back to South Korea after appearing to smoke, marijuana in public in Seoul.
Yet the fury about Messi’s nonappearance is a world away from the feelgood story of last summer. His victory lap in Florida began with last-minute goals, Beckham in tears (the happy kind), kids in Staffordshire putting pink MLS shirts on their Christmas lists.
No self-respecting large football club can get by without pre-season fixtures in endlessly lucrative and untapped Asia.
What those games should entail is open to debate. Is it reasonable to expect a club’s biggest stars to play noncompetitive games?
Ticket prices of around £100 (NZ$206) would suggest yes.
Disappointment is understandable, entitlement less so. Some fans suggested things would have been smoothed had Messi just addressed the crowd or stayed behind signing autographs.
The biggest issue here is the transformation of football into something like a Las Vegas show.
But athletes get injured. Messi may have entered his Rosario Globetrotter phase, but is as prone to groin strains as any other 36-year-old. You simply cannot risk a further setback with the all-important MLS opener against Real Salt Lake just a week away.