Can Messi stop world falling in on Argentina?
Argentina arrived under heavy armed guard and intense scrutiny for tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier high in the andes against ecuador.
Defeat is likely to end Lionel Messi’s hopes of winning a World Cup and see the nation missing from the tournament for the first time since 1970.
Yet at times on their journey to this make-or-break moment, their compatriots have barely managed to watch them.
the nadir was a 3-0 defeat to Brazil which left qualification looking like a stretch last november. at half time, with their team trailing 2-0, millions in football-obsessed argentina switched channels to watch the last episode of a Brazilian mini- series called Moses and the Ten Plagues.
a side which looks a dream team on paper has staggered on, although their pomposity on the night of the Brazil defeat in Belo Horizonte left the squad’s popularity as low as ever.
the evening ended with the entire team — Messi, Sergio aguero, angel di Maria, gonzalo Higuain and all — standing pofaced on a platform behind Messi.
argentina’s star man then declared through a microphone that they would give no interviews because of a radio report that forward ezequiel Lavezzi had smoked marijuana.
‘getting into someone’s personal space is very grave,’ declared Messi.
it contributed to that sense you often get in argentina, where the nation feels the players are out of touch. it is far more bitter than sweet between the team and the public, with the mass overseas exodus of the best talent one of the reasons why.
‘When the national team is playing, we feel like a First World country,’ said La
Nacion’s distinguished football columnist ezequiel Fernandez Moores. ‘then they go off to play for their clubs and leave us alone. We need them but when they leave, we feel they are traitors.’
the antipathy that can be felt towards the players is compounded by what will, by next year, be 25 years of hurt for the albiceleste. the 1993 Copa america is the last trophy they won. Losing in finals has subsequently become their equivalent to england coming out second best in penalty shoot-outs. Since Mexico 86, the side have been defeated in the final at two World Cups and four Copa americas.
after all, this is a country which has produced a pantheon of legendary coaches — Carlos Bilardo, Cesar Luis Menotti and Marcelo Bielsa. in a few years Diego Simeone and Mauricio Pochettino may be added to that list. and no side has produced such success in the Under 20 World Cup — five tournament wins in 12 years — while failing to win a trophy at senior level. there are echoes of england. ‘We are one of those Sigmund Freud countries, like
you in England,’ said Moores. ‘It is a psychological affliction now. You can see that in the players’ faces.’
As in England, there is a running national post mortem, with the governing body part of the problem. The administration and structures of the Argentinian game have been chaotic, with the nation’s FA plunged under emergency FIFA control. In his book about the game in Argentina,
Angels With Dirty Faces, Jonathan Wilson relates that 1,869 Argentinians were playing professionally abroad in 2015, leaving poor club standards behind.
The nation sits sixth in the 10-team South American qualifying section, with the top four countries qualifying for Russia automatically and the fifth-placed side facing a play-off against New Zealand.
But the compact nature of the standings mean six nations go into the final round of fixtures still holding a chance of joining already- qualified Brazil in securing a top-four berth. Argentina will guarantee their place if they beat already-eliminated Ecuador and other results go their way.
They have not won since 2001 at Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa in the Ecuadorian capital Quito, one of the highest stadiums in the world. Messi has never experienced victory with his national team there.
Coach Jorge Sampaoli reflected yesterday: ‘This is football, sometimes it gives and sometimes it takes away. Sometimes you deserve something but do not win. The team is angry. There is a conviction that strikes me very much.’
The Argentinian Ministry of Health has recommended that the television audience at home should avoid certain foods and drinks to lower risks of heart problems over the 90 minutes. It is encouraging those watching on television to take ‘active pauses’ during the game — standing up, moving their arms and legs and walking around at half time.
It will be an accomplishment for Sampaoli if the population actually remain tuned in.