What's wrong with this picture?
Well, many things indeed. Not only that Messi is clearly manhandled, and kicked, it's also that he's subjected to it simultaneously by almost the half of the Nigerian team - not to count one or two more players also running this way who just didn't make it into the frame yet. Is it really the way to play football, putting four plus players on one guy?
What's more important is that this picture, as well as countless other similar situations that unfolded in front of our eyes during this group stage should in fact put to bed all the lamenting about Lionel Messi supposedly not performing at the level, him not showing up for this Cup, allegedly.
Because, who's not showing up is everyone else in the Argentian team, not Messi! If at least six out of ten field players of the opposing team are occupied by just one of your guys, what is it exactly that rest of you are doing then? There is still nine more of you, isn't there?
Is he not passing the ball to you? Can you claim that? No, because Messi is one of the most prolific passers in the world football - everyone knows that. So what is wrong with the rest of you guys?
There was a time when Maradona almost single-handedly carried a team of half-corpses all the way no less but into the final game, but he at least had Caniggia by his side. No one expects Higuain or Dybala to be that for Messi, not really. But how about Aguero or Di Maria? Or, here is an idea: how about everyone else together - like a team!
Messi is doing everything and perhaps even more what Maradona could do. But the glitch is that there is no team! There is Messi and then a loose collection of good and not so good players - and the only strategy seems to be to get the ball to Messi.
Wrong! The strategy should be to keep the ball and do something with it while half or the other team is running after Messi weather he's with the ball or without. Doesn't seem to be a complicated idea, does it?
The dilemma isn't about Messi, but rather about everybody else. And it is not a unique one. Some times teams that have a luxury to have a megastar like Messi in the ranks fall into such a disarray, this happens. Not to look farther, it happened to the same Argentina in 2010 World Cup. The Federation and the coach are to remedy that.
But then you have one look at the guy who is supposed to be in charge of this strategy, and there it is - forget it! Jorge Sampaoli has lost control of the team almost entirely, you can tell it just by his body language if nothing else. So the management of the game has been ceded to Messi and the Friends, but these are the players, and as such they respect the individual play over anything - hence the incoherent strategy or even lack of any. As it happened, the coach in that ill-fated year of 2010 was Maradona, also more of a player than a coach.
With all due respect to the magicians of the game such a Maradona or Messi...
Neither this is the way to play football.