Among all the teams this world cup, many stand out to claim the title of favourites and teams that everyone thinks have a chance to win, Brazil, France, Germany, Belgium, Argentina.
But among all those, there's one team that stands out, and the reason for that is one particular player, Leonel Messi.
Leonel Messi, regarded by many as the best football player in the world, and by some as the best in history, at 31 has already managed to play in a world cup final in 2014.
But he has never been able to lift the cup, now, 4 years later this could very well be his last chance at winning it, because even if he plays during the 2022 world cup, at 35, he will be past his prime and no one would be relying on him.
And what does this mean?, for Argentina, Messi who is regarded by so many as the best, hasn't given the senior squad anything, neither Copa America (while his contemporary rival, Cristiano Ronaldo has won the 2016 UEFA European Championship) nor the World Cup, a tournament that means everything to national teams.
And a tournament that sets you apart as a player in history, a title Maradona gave Argentina in 1986, and that Pele, the player more widely regarded as the best in history won 3 times during his career...this puts Messi in a position where if he wants to compete with those titans, he NEEDS to win the world cup before his career ends, so history doesn't look back at him and thinks less of him as a player.
Alfredo Di Stefano, an argentinian-spanish player, managed to win 5 european cups in a row (the previous name of the current Champions League), but what makes people think a little less of him in the list of best players in history is that he never won anything with either Argentina nor Spain (not really his fault all things considered).
So if Messi wants to avoid this happening to him, it puts all the pressure on him to win Russia 2018, not only for him, or for Argentina, but also for his legacy as a player...because this could be the last chance to write his name in history, to sign his legacy...