Lionel Messi, Argentina’s battle-hardened warrior, quits national team

They wait for you to recover from injury. Before the first match of the tournament, it’s not certain how fit you will be. Or which is the best place to field you in the team. Your team lost the 2014 World Cup final. You lost the Copa America final a year later. The penalty shootout didn’t end well for your team. A year passes and the centenary edition of the Copa America gives your team another chance to end a 23-year-wait for a major title. The final goes to penalties again. Your country’s fortunes could change. But you miss. Again. You are Lucas Biglia. Lionel Messi, of course, had scored his penalty last year. This year, though, was a different matter. He took a couple of steps and blazed over with his left foot. It did not matter that Claudio Bravo had dived in the wrong direction. It did not matter that Messi had never missed a penalty in a shootout before. The shot flew away. Arturo Vidal had missed Chile’s first penalty and Messi had the chance to give Argentina a crucial advantage. But he kicked it away. [caption id=“attachment_2857890” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Lionel Messi wore the look of battle-hardened warrior who has lost too many when they have mattered to him much. AP[/caption] Of course, one cannot claim with certainty that Argentina would have managed to win if Messi had converted his spot kick. After all, his teammates who combined with him in attack, had set new lows for a performance in the final of a major tournament yet again. Gonzalo Higuain could not finish a simple one-on-one chance, Sergio Aguero snatched at a shot he should have buried from close range and, well, Angel di Maria did not even get that close. As far as unintended sabotages go, that was pretty good from Argentina. Gerardo Martino’s side had scored a tournament-high 18 goals in the lead up to the final. In 120 minutes on Sunday, Argentina scored none. Messi tried to manufacture a few opportunities but none went into the net. There were dribbles that ended with him being fouled, there were passes that his teammates did not read and there were shots that escaped the target. It was a curiously familiar script playing out yet again. And then there was Messi. And his beard. He wore the look of battle-hardened warrior. The kind who has lost too many when they have mattered to him much. Sure, he has won a lot too but all those trophies were won with his mates in Barcelona. Messi’s detractors ask with indignation, “But what did he do when it mattered the most?” As if Champions League finals and La Liga title races mattered less or were made easy by playing in a Barcelona team with immense talent. Perhaps, his critics’ questions cause the itch in his beard. By announcing his retirement, Messi has ordained that the itch will remain. He could have scratched it away. You talk about Barcelona’s talent. Messi played with Aguero, Di Maria and Higuain in attack for Argentina. By no measure is that group impoverished. You talk about Argentina’s defence. A defence that has not conceded a single goal in any of the three finals played over the last two years. So, Messi had it right. Yet, what went wrong? Why did he finish his international career without a single major trophy? The penalty was by a man carrying the burden of a misfiring team and a dreamy fan support on his not-so-broad shoulders. He is a legend, alright, but his movement to the penalty spot was of a man walking gingerly. Unsure of what he meant to do. You would think the answer should have come easily to him. Score the penalty and hope your teammates do as well. But at what moment does the most regulation of tasks become an unknowable? Messi was in a daze by the time he took the penalty. Dazed and a bit confused. Perhaps, it was tiredness. A long season may have finally begun to take its toll. Or perhaps there was weariness at the repetitive nature of these finals. It was like a dream that would occur many times but its end would remain indecipherable. One final is lost and then another, so that maybe one will be won in the end? Or will the cycle of defeat repeat itself? It was the latter question that shook Messi when he missed his penalty. His visage carried his worst fears. Pain and misery were writ large on his face. The tattoo on his arm looked like a cheap work of art, a parody to his despair. Messi trudged away from the goal, walking in a daze, trying to fathom the unfathomable. He tried to hide his face. He looked down to the pitch. He covered his face in the blue and white jersey of his team. It was as if his soul had been rendered transparent and others could gape into it. It lay adrift in the MetLife Stadium. The arena is sponsored by an insurance giant. Messi needed some cover for his damages. His teammates tried to mitigate his loss. Parity was kept. After every penalty, there was a shot of his morbid face. Hope draining away, staunched only by the proceedings in the penalty box. When Biglia missed the penalty, however, Messi knew the end was nigh. He bit his shirt, trying to chew his frustration. A few minutes later, the coda to his lugubrious composition had been written. It was Claudio Bravo, the Chilean goalkeeper, who made the decisive save. Bravo, the club mate, who had embraced Messi like a younger brother before the penalty shootout began. Bravo, who tore himself away from the celebrations to check on his friend in the dugout where he sat despairing. Messi’s eyes turned red soon after he was left alone. It was as if he had seen the devil. The devil that lay inside him. It had pounced upon Messi when he needed it to keep low. Of course, the coup de grace remained. Messi still had to collect his medal. A medal for failure, in his eyes. The free-flowing football that had carried Argentina to the final was a distant memory. What remained was the pain of letting oneself down. It was not just about disappointing his teammates and country. It was about not matching the unreasonably high standards through which everyone, Messi included, has come to define this rare specimen of a footballer. Messi’s success has made many speculate how it must feel like to be him. But on Sunday night, it was tough being Messi. Swapping bodies with him was a thought best foregone. On the international stage, the opportunity will never arise again.