Todays World cup final between France and Croatia brought back haunting memories of Argentinas World Cup campaign in 2006. What stood out clearly in my mind was watching a 19 year old superstar Kylian Mbappé playing a key role in France World Cup success.
Why the comparisson with Mbappé and Messi you might ask? As an Argentine American who has followed La Albiceleste for more then 20 years, I found it sad and dissapointing to know that Argentina had no realistic shot to win the World Cup and almost didnt even qualify if not for a Messi hat trick performance against Ecuador on the last day of Qualification.
As Messi is known to be one if not the best players in the World, many fans around the World thought a deserving finish to Messi's amazing career would have been World Cup success. Unfortunately Argentina is no where near the class it was during other World Cup. And sadly Argentina suffers from some strange bs logic which seeks to keep its young stars from shining in the World Cup because it is thought to be to much pressure for a young star. This same logic is what kept Cesar Menotti from calling a player of the likes of Diego Armando Maradona to Argentina's 1978 World Cup team. Fortunetely for Menotti this decision did not end of bitting him on the ass.
As we can see is the case with Mbappé, this thinking is complete rubbish. A star is a star is a star no matter how old the star is. If Messi was good enough to be playing at age 17 for Barcelona, playing in La Liga and Champions League, then he should have been good enough for Argentina. That being said, Messi did play in the 2006 World Cup, but he didnt play when it mattered most. Not only was Messi an elite player by age 19, he is also a player then had won 2 Youth World Championships and an Olympic Gold medal.
Messi 2006 World Cup Highlights
When did it matter most? It matter most in the 79th minute of the quarter final match vs Germany. Argentina had a super strong team during this tournament and was taking apart the opposition with the likes of players like Sorin, Rodriguez, Saviola, Aimar, Riquelme, Tevez, etc. The German team they were facing were considering to be a young team that was in a rebuilding year . If there was ever a time for Argentina to get the better of there old rivals, it was this World Cup. If there was ever a better time for Messi to win the World Cup, it was 2006. Age is just a number, if the talent is there then the coach must let his best players shine.
In the 79th minute of the quarter final against Germany, Argentina were convincingly beating Germany 1-0. Argentina was holding on to there slim lead and had one substitute left. As I saw Pekerman getting ready to substitute for the most part a very ineffetive past his prime Hernan Crespo, I was certain that it would be Messi who would be called in to close the show. But to my shock and dissapointment, Pekerman instead choose Julio Cruz as Crespo´s substitute. This change made no sense to me as Crespo was ineffective versus a physical Germany, to then but a slower player of less capabilities then the one you are removing, meanwhile you have potentially the best player in the World on the bench.
While Messi would have added more pressure on the Germans which could have caused the tieing goal to ever happen. Or atleast if it did happen then at least Messi could have had the opportunity to display some of his magic to help Argentina score a 2nd goal to defeat the Germans.
For me this substitute is what killed Messi´s clearest opportunity to be a World Cup champion at the age of 19 just as Mbappé was able to accomplish today. The prove of this terrible substitution came only a minute later as Klose tied the game which eventually Argentina lost on penalties. I wonder how many nightmares Jose Pekerman has had for this foolish decision. I had wish that Argentina had the balls to just play its best players rather then use age as some excuse for not playing players. If France had this Argentine mentallity then it would be a very good possibility that today it they would not be celebrating there 2nd World Cup.
If one looks at things from another angle, many times age can work in ones favor. If you compare the Messi 0f 2006 and 2018, there is a huge difference. The Messi of 2006 was young, hopefull, smiling, full of energy and willing to take chances. He did not feel the pressure and weight of all of Argentine on his shoulders. Age was on his side, because no one was going to put all there eggs in the basket of a 19 year old. Flash forward to 2018, you see a stressed out Messi, who looks sad and rarely smiles.
Maybe there is still 1 World Cup left in Messi's tank, but for whatever it's worth 2006 was the year that would have could have should have been for Messi and Argentina but sadly never was.
Thanks for reading, please feel free to share your comments.
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