Every World Cup coach would like to be burdened with the problem of Lionel Messi. Messi, the superstar who, at 22, is almost certain to win his second consecutive World Player of the Year award, has never fit quite as neatly in the Argentine attack as he does with his Barcelona club team.
He has only scored 13 goals in 44 appearances for the national team while he netted 34 goals in 35 games with Barcelona. Some Argentineans have come to believe that Messi, who has lived abroad for a decade now, simply doesn’t have his heart in the game when he plays for Argentina. But more likely is that the coaches haven’t been willing to construct an attack, a short-passing offense a la Barcelona , around Messi.That certainly won’t happen now that the coach is Diego Maradona, the greatest player in the nation’s history with an ego to match his stature. Just how dysfunctional does Argentina appear? Sportswriters wonder aloud if Maradona might not sabotage his star player rather than relinquish his singular stature in the nation’s soccer pantheon.
The truth is nobody can predict what Maradona will do because nobody seems to understand anything he has done yet. Argentineans are rightfully proud of their country’s soccer tradition. They want their team to win and to win playing the game the right way with skill and passion. They want Messi to rise to the occasion and, in the end, belong to them just as Maradona does.
"Player for player, there is no better national team than ours."
- Argentina's Lionel Messi -Messi, the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year, has enjoyed another phenomenal year at club side Barcelona, winning the European Golden Boot with his 34 La Liga goals and also finishing as the leading scorer in the UEFA Champions League for the second successive year with a further eight.
Much is now expected of the 22-year-old in the FIFA World Cup, but Messi has shrugged that off, saying: "At this stage I don't have to prove anything. I've come there to do things well for me and for my team-mates."
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