I’m carrying whole of the world on my shoulders
MESSI ADMITS HE’S FEELING THE PRESSURE OF A NATION TO BRING HOME THE HOLY GRAIL AND SAYS: WE NOW HAVE PEACE OF MIND AGAIN
ARGENTINA 2 MEXICO 0 GROUP C
IF there is one player, one sportsman, one man who knows about weight on shoulders, it is Lionel Messi.
He has been here before, of course, bearing the hopes, dreams and expectations of a mighty footballing nation on his slight frame.
Only this time, it is a little different. This time, he is carrying his monumental legacy into this tournament. This time, in his final World Cup, he has an even bigger billing to live up to.
The script he has been writing so beautifully for so many years demands he bow out of international football on the grandest stage of all, a World Cup final in a magnificent stadium on December 18.
But the route to the storybook ending is a fiendishly difficult one. In the defeat by Saudi Arabia and for an hour of the victory over Mexico, it was clear that this Argentina team will struggle to live up to its billing as one of the pre-tournament favourites.
But for Messi, personally, and for Lionel Scaloni’s squad, his sweet daisy-cutter against Mexico, just after the hour mark, was a liberating moment.
That is why Messi led the celebrations (above) with a joyous gusto we do not see that often. That is why he conducted
the hour-long dressing room party, that is why he cut a happy figure when fielding questions in the early hours of Sunday morning in the Lusail Stadium.
“It is a weight off our shoulders,” he said, using that familiar phrase. Messi (below, left) could also have said: ‘My shoulders’.
“It is also a reason for joy as we now have peace of mind that it is all down to us again. We have peace of mind to start again and again do what we stand for.”
Messi’s goal was yet another moment of statistical significance in his career. It was his eighth in 21 World Cup matches, the same record as Diego Maradona and two behind the best Argentinian tally of 10, from Gabriel Batistuta. Cristiano Ronaldo also has eight to his name. And, FIFA’s dream scenario, Ronaldo and Messi could meet in the final at the Lusail Stadium.
But, right now, that seems a bit like pie in the Qatari sky, not least because – despite that defeat of Mexico – Argentina will still have to raise their game if they are to claim the win over Poland that would guarantee them a passage to the knockout stages.
“We knew the Mexico game was a critical game for us,” said Messi. “Now we can approach the Polish game in a different way.”
The chances, though, are that they will approach the game in the same way – battle hard and wait for that magical moment from the Greatest Player Of All Time.