Lionel Messi's Strategic Brilliance and Argentina's World Cup Ambitions

Argentinian football star Lionel Messi is currently 39 years old. When his teammates are exchanging the ball or 'passing' among themselves on the football field, Messi is either walking around or standing still. When passing the ball among themselves, the attention of the other players in the team is on what his signal will be. When Messi suddenly starts running, it means he has seen a possibility of scoring a goal. He is also signaling that he needs the ball now. A few days ago, in Messi's new hometown Miami, a match was played between Argentina and Cape Verde. In the match, 'left-back' Lisandro Martinez took the ball from 40 yards away. For other players, the possibility of controlling that ball coming from above their heads would be only 25 percent, but for Messi, that situation was like a normal daily routine. With one touch, the ball was under control. With the next touch, it went straight to Cape Verde's goalpost. The goal was scored after the goalkeeper Vozinha could not control it. For Messi, this goal was his seventh goal in the ongoing tournament. With continuous victories, Argentina is aiming to become the country to win the World Cup for the second consecutive time. No one has had such an opportunity since Brazil won for the second consecutive time in 1962. It is not very difficult for Argentina to reach the final this time. Argentina's quarter-final journey was confirmed after defeating Egypt 3-2 in the Round of 16 match on July 7. From that match, Messi has increased his overall goal tally in the tournament by another point. Surely, this World Cup is Messi's last. The question in everyone's mind is how the remaining matches of his last World Cup will proceed. Messi did not think he would be able to play in the World Cup until the current time. After the victory in the semi-final in Qatar in 2022 at the age of 35, he had said, 'I am very happy to be able to end my playing career in the World Cup final.' The victory against France in the final turned out to be exactly as he wished. Along with that, he reached the level of the legacy of Maradona single-handedly winning the World Cup in 1986. A few months later, he joined Inter Miami, a big club in the American football league. His objective was to get a comfortable daily life after 20 years of serious play, but it did not happen as he thought. His playing ability had not diminished. Messi rarely speaks. When I interviewed his fellow players, coaches, and Barcelona directors for my book, I learned many aspects of his life. Due to the immense power Messi wielded at Barcelona, many people seemed to be afraid of him. When signing any new player or appointing a new coach, everyone had one mandatory question: 'What does Messi want?' If the club's decision was in line with Messi's wishes, he would indicate his happiness or express it through his facial expressions. Like Argentina, Barcelona also revolved around Messi's desires. In return, Messi took on the responsibility of delivering results. Especially for Argentina, he took the responsibility of delivering favorable results. Due to this burden and pressure, he sometimes vomited before the start of the match. Now, however, Messi plays without any pressure. He has nothing left to prove. He said, 'God has given me everything abundantly. Now everything is just fun for me.' The World Cup itself is like a competition for him. He dominates many records set in the World Cup. He holds the record for the highest goal scorer with 21 goals. He also has the most assists for goals. He also creates the atmosphere for goals. He also holds the record for playing the most minutes. On the World Cup stadium, many fans who come to watch Argentina's match have his name written on their backs. Nowadays, he appears a bit more emotional than usual. At the airport, when security personnel were searching the bags of the Argentinian football team, Cristiano Romero found a pair of tongs for eating roasted meat. Seeing that, Messi burst into laughter. During the match against Algeria, he cried on the field. Possibly, he might have cried remembering his sick father. He had stepped on the stomach of an opposing team player, but the referee did not give him a card. I think the rules of football are different for Messi. For example, any kind of 'foul' against him is easily given the opportunity for a 'free kick'. Nowadays, he feels liberated because his team, Argentina, plays exactly the way he wants. In every match he plays, both the opposing and supporting teams have a 'Messi strategy'. His own team wants to utilize him fully. On the other hand, the opponent tries to stop Messi. Argentina had been making mistakes in formulating that strategy for years. Once, at a hotel bar in Paris, the Argentinian coach was telling me his strategy. Meanwhile, Argentina was out of the World Cup before it was halfway through. After being appointed as the coach of Argentina in 2018, he tried to make his team play fast like European teams, but the new coach's idea did not appeal to Messi. To understand what kind of style Messi likes, we have to watch the collection of documentaries by Rakuten Television. Within that, we have to watch the conversations Messi had with the team before the start of the match while he was at Barcelona, where we can see Messi's playing career, style, and thoughts. According to the documentary, after the coach expressed his opinion each time, Messi would add something. He would advise his fellow players not to be too stressed, to be calm, and not to play too fast. Before the match against Liverpool in 2019, Messi had warned his team players not to play in the fast style that Liverpool wanted. He said that if Argentina could maintain control of the ball, the game would be entirely different, and the result would be in their favor. Today, Argentina's playing style is 'controlled possession', meaning keeping the ball in their control on the field with ease. Argentina's assistant coach is a novelist himself. According to him, Argentina's style is short passes, gathering to touch the ball, and touching the ball in the Argentinian style. Not imitating the European style. In 2022, he told me in a conversation that the European style is becoming old and irrelevant. The Argentinian team weaves a web of short passes in the midfield. They rarely make long diagonal passes or fast 'counter-attacks'. Messi wanders around the field wherever he likes. Sometimes he comes to the center to make the game effective, sometimes he walks on the right flank. He is always ready to enter the opponent's penalty area at any time. Argentina's attack is centered in that area. The players playing on the flanks are focused on deceiving the opponents. They try to pull the opposing players around them and divert them from the midfield, which is Messi's attacking zone. Messi has not lost his strength even now. He rarely 'dribbles' the ball more than necessary. Instead, he becomes a sure and reliable goal scorer. His Portuguese rival and 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo tries very hard to become one. Even so, Argentina struggled to achieve a 3-2 victory against Cape Verde. The Argentinian team's dependence on Messi, or 'Messidipendencia', is at its peak. Playing without any pace is a weakness. Argentina defends weakly. It creates little pressure. If Argentina wins the World Cup this time, it will remain a remarkable achievement in history, accomplished by the strength of a single individual. (From Financial Times)