WEARY MESSI CALLS IT QUITS
LIONEL Messi’s retirement from international soccer may have come as a shock to his many admirers, but in hindsight there were plenty of clues that the Argentina superstar might call time on his career with the Albiceleste sooner rather than later.
The five-time Fifa world footballer of the year, 29, was left devastated on Sunday after suffering yet another traumatic nearmiss with Argentina in the Copa America Centenario – his fourth defeat in a final since 2007.
“For me the national team is over,” Messi said. “I’ve done all I can. I’ve been in four finals and it hurts not to be a champion.
“It’s a hard moment for me and the team, and it’s difficult to say, but it’s over with the Argentina team.”
While startling, the suddenness of Messi’s departure – assuming it is for good – begins to make sense when the context of his decision is taken into consideration.
For most of the past decade, Messi has shouldered the burden of expectation from Argentine fans craving a first major tournament success since 1993.
The flip side is that when the disappointments come, he has often been the lightning rod for criticism.
Though most Argentine fans remain squarely in Messi’s corner, his critics invariably contrast his success with Barcelona with his inability to lead Argentina to international glory.
Messi had shown signs of growing increasingly weary of the criticism following Argentina’s defeat in the 2015 Copa America final, irritated by the suggestion that he was anything other than committed to the national cause.
“I get annoyed when they tell us: ‘Put in more effort, you don’t feel the shirt’,” he said in December.
“We were lucky enough to get to the final of the World Cup and the Copa America, and it seems as if we didn’t do anything.
“We got to two finals. We didn’t win. What can you do?
“We got to the final, we didn’t lose in the last-16,” he said.