By Nick Mulvenney
NEW YORK, July 18 (Reuters) – When Argentina lost the 2016 Copa America final at MetLife Stadium, a heartbroken Lionel Messi tearfully announced his retirement from international football with the words “I’ve done all I can”.
At 29, he was one of the world’s most decorated players at individual and club level but, after losses in three Copa America title deciders and the 2014 World Cup final, he looked destined never to take home a big international prize.
He was, of course, cajoled back into the Argentina shirt by an adoring nation and on Sunday will take the field at that same stadium, rebranded New York-New Jersey Stadium for this tournament, to play for a second successive World Cup winners’ medal.
The arguments over who is the greatest footballer of all time will rage on until the end of days, but you would have to go back to Diego Maradona or Pele to find a player with a similar individual influence on World Cup success.
While Sunday’s opponents Spain are a team built solidly on the collective, Messi’s presence has been absolutely essential to five years of uninterrupted glory for the Albiceleste.
NATIONAL TOTEM
It is not just the goals and assists — although there have been plenty of both — Messi exists as a national totem around which an incredibly resilient team have rallied time and again to rescue triumph from the jaws of defeat.
“It’s all happiness, and it’s all thanks to this group which, in the face of adversity, keeps going and going and never gets tired,” Lautaro Martinez said after scoring the stoppage-time winner from Messi’s assist in the semi-final against England.
“We have the best player in the world as our example.”
As well as the skill, Messi has shown remarkable durability by playing every minute of all Argentina’s knockout games at this World Cup, two of which have gone to extra time.
Making any assumptions about the future of the little magician from Rosario has always been reckless but by any measure, a fourth world title for Argentina on Sunday would serve as the crowning achievement of an incredible career.
The 2022 World Cup triumph as well as Copa America titles in 2021 and 2024 have loaded his trophy cabinet with international medals just as his club success tapered off in the less demanding environs of Major League Soccer.
Messi is contracted to Inter Miami until the end of the 2028 MLS season and has given no indication that Sunday’s game will be his last in the sky blue and white shirt that he has graced 206 times over 21 years.
One thing is absolutely certain, though, he has more than earned the right to make that call himself.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Ed Osmond)
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