Whose World Cup is this?
When you’re one of the great ones, there seems to always be something that fans, media members and critics point out that they need you to accomplish in order to enhance their legacy or solidify their greatness. It happens to most of the great athletes.
Well, the latest and what has been a constant discussion point for years, surrounds soccer mastermind, Lionel Messi and whether he needs to win a World Cup in order to truly be viewed as the greatest soccer player of all- time.
With the 2022 World Cup set to take place later this year in November in Qatar, that question will continue to come up. It’s been inescapable for Messi. To many, Messi leading his country of Argentina to a World Cup is like a prerequisite for him to be regarded as the greatest. To some, Messi is called the “best club footballer ever” but withhold the “Best Ever” title until he holds that beautiful, shinny golden trophy in his hands. He’s held to such otherworldly standards because he really is the holy grail of all footballers. He does the unimaginable on the pitch. His ability to create absolutely nothing out of something blows the mind. Watching him makes you feel like you’re experiencing an adrenaline rush because he mesmerizes the brain with some of the things he does with a soccer ball. His genius truly transcends the sport in ways that are hard to comprehend. Lionel Messi is the soccer version of Pablo Picasso. There really isn’t any other way to put it In terms of club football, Messi has literally done it all with Barcelona and now PSG ( Paris Saint- Germain). It’s his international career that has drawn the most criticism but when you look deeper, it holds up pretty well compared to his ultimate rival in Cristiano Ronaldo and what he’s done with Portugal. Messi has actually had more success with national team than Ronaldo. When it comes down to who the soccer world thinks is the best ever, usually four names come to mind: Messi, Ronaldo, Pele and Diego Maradona. No disrespect to the likes of Brazilian Ronaldo, Eusebio, Alfredo Di Stefano, Zinedine Zidane, Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer but those four are the singular four players that dominate the GOAT headlines these days. Ronaldo, Pele and Maradona are really the only players in history Messi is often judged against and compared to in any and every GOAT conversation.
Like Messi, Ronaldo is also without a World Cup. Though, if there was one advantage that Ronaldo had over his counterpart for sometime was that he had led Portugal to two major international trophies ( 2016 Euros, 2019 Nations League), while Messi had won zero with Argentina. Things are now even up in that department. Messi finally captured that elusive international trophy by leading Argentina to the 2021 Copa America title — while being named the Best Player of the Tournament — and then last month defeated the 2020 Euro champions Italy ( played in 2021) convincingly 3- 0 to win the Finalissima Cup ( match between the previous European champion and South America champion). Now riding a 32- match unbeaten streak ( third- longest international streak in history), Argentina will head into this year’s World Cup as one of the favorites to hoist the country’s third- ever trophy ( 1978,1986). Now even in trophies won, where Messi has the current edge between the two’s international career is in the:
a.) number of international tournament finals made b.) going further in the World Cup Ronaldo has played in two international tournament finals ( winning both), yet Messi has played in five ( four Copa America finals, one World Cup final). And even though Messi is 1- 4 in those finals, the ability to carry your team to that point in competitions filled
with other high- class teams does count for something and shows the aptitude to be able to lift a group of teammates to a certain level no matter the circumstance. I believe Messi has done that a little bit better than Ronaldo, not just with their national teams but also at the club level. Throughout that World Cup, when Argentina struggled to breakdown defenses, it was Messi who constantly came to the rescue and conjured up moments of brilliance that was every bit needed by him, especially against Iran in the second match of the group stage. To add to that, he won the prized Golden Ball ( Best Player at the World Cup), which is sometimes reserved for players on the World Cup winning team. There he scored four goals, had 1 assist and won four Man of the Match awards. Ronaldo had never won the Golden Ball. He’s also never played in a World Cup final. The furthest Ronaldo has been in the World Cup is the semifinals in 2006, when he was a youngster and Luis Figo was Portugal’s top player. Yes, Ronaldo is the all- time international goals leader with 117 — with Messi sitting fourth at 86 — but given the combination of team and individual play, the Argentine has had the slightly better international career on top of what he’s done at the club level.