IT’S NOW OR NEVER FOR LIONEL MESSI
Time running out for Argentina’s talisman to emulate World Cup-winning feat of Maradona
This is the last chance for the Argentine to light up a World Cup and be revered as Maradona before him
And on the third day came Lionel Messi. If the diminutive minstrel from Rosario is ever to be canonised alongside Diego Maradona in the Argentine pantheon the feeling is it has to be now, here in Russia, where in eight days’ time he turns 31.
Messi and Argentina... or should that be Argentina and Messi? The question gets to the heart of the difficulty in a country polarised by the Messi question. For the anti-faction, Argentina does not mean to Messi what it did to Maradona, and in this emotional deficit lies the explanation for his failure to galvanise the national team as he does Barcelona.
The opposing position sees Messi as the victim of circumstances in an era when the international game has been downgraded and the squad is unable to give him the unqualified backing offered to Maradona, who in 1986 led Argentina to their second and last World Cup.
Claudio Caniggia, who did Maradona’s fetching and carrying in the No 9 shirt, is a believer, subscribing to the latter view. “Messi doesn’t get the same support from his team-mates as Maradona did. I think that’s true,” he said. “I knew that Maradona was the complete footballing genius, but every player has a responsibility, even those who don’t play much. You can’t give all the responsibility to Messi, because then what’s the point of you being there? Imagine if I’d thought in 1990 that the world champions had to carry me through. No. Carry us? We’re in it together. I’m Argentina’s striker and I have to drag them through it too. You’ve got to have character, determination, ambition and impulse.”
This is an echo of the message delivered by Argentina’s most-capped player, Javier Mascherano, who believes the squad must trade up to meet Messi’s expectations of them if the team is to fulfil its promise. Manager Jorge Sampaoli claimed the squad is united and ready to show that “Argentina is one of the strongest teams in the world. We have prepared well and are determined to enjoy every second of it”.
He also acknowledged the centrality of Messi to their prospects: “He is not under pressure. He is a player that makes people very happy. His skill and the professional way he plays means that he will be the one who decides the way he wants to play.”
It all starts in Moscow against the world’s favourite second team. Only don’t tell Iceland that. In the politest possible terms, he being Icelandic, coach Heimir Hallgrimsson wants it known Iceland are not a novel presence here, despite being a country of just 350,000 and this being their first World Cup. He does, however, understand the fascination with his country and the attraction. I mean, how could it be otherwise?
“You can’t help but love Iceland,” he said. “We haven’t attacked anyone, been to war with anyone, we only had the Cod War and no one got hurt there. It’s a pretty little nation, and pretty people in general.” You can chalk that up as an early candidate for quote of the tournament.
The following comes a close second. “To pre-empt some questions, all players are fit, everyone ready to play, this is the biggest game in the history of Iceland football and it’s a headache for the coaching team that we have to choose. And to save more questions, I am still a dentist and I will never stop being a dentist!”
“You can’t help but love Iceland. We haven’t attacked anyone, been to war with anyone, we only had the Cod War and no one got hurt there. It’s a pretty little nation, and pretty people in general”
HEIMIR HALLGRIMSSON