Photo courtesy of Nazionale Calcio Flickr page - Clamoroso in Copa America: Messi rifiuta il premio di miglior giocatore del torneo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nazionalecalcio/19458632072/in/photolist-vDuzoq-uDVxxS-qB44s3-bMJ3SV-6uHuJx-3fK4wy-9QeHbu-hmtbEv-jPf8ea-bMJ4Ck-7UoN93-7NfxVr-cL3TzS-cL3WVs-7VDqHF-cL3XW3-byPpe7-tkyodt-6tKexN-apwrj5-cL3WhG-3fEF1c-6j3szN-cL3WCu-vbyaH1-HarLc-6MJV8u-dR9CsF-8p95yU-rgAdMq-3fK525-9NdVb3-pZF9CW-9QbQQZ-9Nj36Y-6MJXjh-nR9M7p-3UKFGu-vbxYtC-c8WPyE-6MEJVR-6mXrqA-kDS3Rn-8XooJX-iZeJK9-aqcN4o-nw7sPh-gGhfG-8HWa8L-9hfY9o
Lionel Messi is perhaps the greatest football player in the world today, and he came within a whisker of leading Argentina to ultimate World Cup glory last year, making it all the way to the Final, and having numerous great opportunities, before Germany broke Argentina's heart and dashed their World Cup hopes (not for the first time) with an overtime session goal.
Still, Messi came close to scoring what would have been a tying goal.
Despite losing, he was given recognition as the tournament's standout player, although he was noticeably disappointed because his team lost.
The question then, is whether or not this lack of success over the course of an otherwise legendary career somehow tarnishes Messi's overall legacy?
It is a fair question, and one for which there are equally legitimate debates on both sides.
But to me, Messi has already attained the strongest reputation of any South American football since at least Maradona, and possibly even Pele. Some might even suggest that he has exceeded the accomplishments of even those men, suggesting that Messi is, in fact, the greatest player of all time.
I do not know, because I cannot say definitively, one way or the other. It really also is a speculative kind of thing. Some people will always say that despite some truly tremendous individual achievements, Messi failed to really lift his team, and nation, up to win a major tournament. He keeps narrowly missing.
Perhaps. But it can also be easily argued that, without Messi, Argentina most likely does not even make nearly as strong a run as they wind up doing. Would Argentina even reached the World Cup Final last year if not for Messi?
It seems doubtful.
The fact that he is great enough to help his nation field a truly competitive team at the highest level of competition, when it otherwise would likely be an also ran in perhaps the quarterfinals or so, is indeed telling. This is truly one of the greatest individual players in the world today, although maybe he does not get quite the help that some other greats in the game received when they won the World Cup, or other huge international trophies.
His detractors will always measure him by his failures, and those times when he walked away without the trophy. Indeed, the argument can be made that the greatest players raise the play of their entire team, and thus do not walk off so many times without the hardware to show for their efforts.
Personally, I think he should be measured by how his efforts got so many teams close to the trophy in the first place.
Any thoughts from readers? Please do share!
Here is the article that got me into this topic of just how great Messi is in the first place:
Still no international glory for Messi, and still no reason to let it tarnish his legacy By Joey Gulino of FC Yahoo, July 4, 2015:
Ses jambes courtes et solides permettent à Messi d'exceller en courtes accélérations tandis que ses pieds rapides lui permettent de conserver le contrôle de la balle lorsqu'il dribble à vitesse élevée.
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