A week ago, Lionel
Messi produced one of the most remarkable performances of his life, when he
scored a hat trick of goals to secure Argentina’s place in the World Cup. The odds
of Argentina qualifying for the World cup were dim before the match, and Leo
Messi arrived to put an end to all doubts regarding the country’s future.
After the
match, Messi was ecstatic. On being asked about his thoughts at that moment, he
replied saying that it would have been crazy to have a World Cup, if Argentina
wasn’t a part of it.
Until that
very moment, Leo Messi and his teammates had boycotted the press, following an
incident that occurred in November 2016. The media had published a false report
against Ezequiel Lavezzi, who they claimed was dropped out of the qualifier
against Colombia, because he had been smoking cannabis during a training
session. Leo Messi himself came forward himself on behalf of the team and
announced that they would be boycotting the press. But after the win on
Wednesday, the team talked to the press normally.
The win also
set to rest all the doubts that people had regarding Lionel Messi himself. The last
match against Peru, which ended in a 0-0 draw, had people question if Leo Messi
did have what it takes to lead his country. In the match against Peru, Leo
Messi hit the post once and hit the target more than 4 times. All the times,
luck was not on his side and the fans were stunned, because all these were
chances that a player with Messi’s caliber and skill could have easily finished.
The draw put them in the sixth position with 25 points in the South American
countries group. This win put them in the 4th place and as a result
into the Word Cup.
The fans
were an ecstatic bunch after the win, some of them comparing it to Diego
Maradona’s infamous Hand of God against England in the finals of the World Cup
in 1986. They hailed him, and for a majority of them, they were convinced that
Messi is the greatest of all time. Critics were no different, some of them
saying that Messi was now in a league of his own, and there was no competition.
This also restarted the Messi versus Ronaldo debate, after the latter produced
a poor performance against Switzerland.
Messi’s
goals also took him to a record 21 career goals in World Cup qualifiers,
beating breaking Hernan Crespo's record of 19. His teammate Javier Mascherano
was jubilant after the win. "Leo proved yet again that he owns this
game," Mascherano said. "When you are like him, you have that
capacity, there's no context for him. From now on, it's not just a case of
enjoying it, but helping him."
"We
knew that this could have been the end of the story for many of us,"
Mascherano said. "Thanks to God it wasn't the case. I hope that we can
analyse the past three years and rebuild Argentinian football.
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