His misfortune to not win the trophy for Lionel Messi and Argentina is probably the most discussed on the subject of modern-day football. If our worst fears come true, then Lionel Messi will not be able to play next World Cup, and therefore it will be a trophy that ‘the best player to play the game’ will never be able to touch his hand.
After more than eight months from the national team, during that time it was not clear whether he would play for his country again or after the disappointment of another World Cup, Lionel Messi would officially return to the Argentina team. And it cannot be good for anyone.
His series of disappointments continued with the 2016 Copa Santanario, where Albieelstein again lost the same opponent on penalties. Messi’s affliction was definitely mixed because he remembered his penalty during firing.
#1 The Age Factor
Lionel Messi is still running another spectacular season in Barcelona, scoring 37 goals in all competitions, providing a wonderful 15 support. The Argentine is 31 now and will be 34 by the time of the 2022 World Cup.
Age can take a toll on the best of the players and Messi is not even free from its effects. Recent inconsistent results from Argentina, combined with the lack of a core team structure, means that they have almost no chance to look strong with the Brazilian, Uruguay, and defending champions Chile in the 2019 Copa America World Cup.
#2 Rampant Mismanagement within the Argentina Football Association
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has consistently complicated major management decisions. For one, he let the chief coach George Modpel go after the defeat of the 2018 World Cup, when he had given them only one year to work on the national side to improve.
The fact that he sometimes proved himself in international football, in which Chile was involved in winning his first Copa America, was completely ignored. On the other hand, the Brazilian Football Federation retained its manager Titte even after the disappointing World Cup because they believe in more long-term team building tactics.
Argentina has seen four different managers on the helm in the last 5 years. A fact that has definitely contributed to their incompatible form and their failure to establish a winning identity as a team.
#3 Lack of quality youngsters coming through the ranks
Anyone who has seen Argentina play in recent years, will notice that Messi plays far deeper than Argentina, often starting attacks from his own half. Argentina has so far given Messi a creative midfield partner who can lift the burden.
Ever since Banega and Angel Correa are incompatible, while the initial promises shown by Javier Pastor have often been dropped due to injuries. With Juventus’ Ace Paolo Diabala, who occupied the same place in Messi at the club level, Argentina often set Messi as the only player to play his team with Playmaker.
Argentina Results since World Cup 2018
Argentina 3-0 Guatemala (Friendly)
Argentina 0-0 Colombia (Friendly)
Iraq 0-4 Argentina (Friendly)
Argentina 0-1 Brazil (Friendly)
Argentina 2-0 Mexico (Friendly)
Argentina 2-0 Mexico (Friendly)
Argentina 1-3 Venezuela (Friendly)
Morocco 0-1 Argentina (Friendly)
#4 Lack of leadership quality
A feature where Messi is definitely behind Cristiano Ronaldo, is the quality of leadership and the ability to rally his colleagues to fight against inaccessible obstacles appears. While Ronaldo challenged his soldiers for an unexpected win in the Euro 2016, Messi’s star star Argentina reached the 2014 World Cup finals, as well as in the 2015 and 2016 Copa finals, there was a dire lack of leadership in the team.
Even when players such as Xavier Mascherano were part of the team, the pressure of inspiration was always on Messi and the magicians failed to live up to expectations. He is human after all and this problem should have been addressed by more capable managers. Messi still retains the captain’s armband in Argentina, when the AFA should look to overcome that pressure and instead it should be handed over to goalkeeper Sergio Romero or Center Back Nicholas Ottamadi.
#5 Internal politics between players and managers
Argentina is constantly interrupted for the difference between the members of the squad and the players and the manager. One of the pre-eminent strikers in world football, Sergio Aguero was very publicly out of the way with George Sanpauli after losing 3-0 to Croatia in the 2018 World Cup.
Apart from the player-management tensions, there are tensions caused due to personal issues within the squad as well. Mauro Icardi, one of the most devastating strikers in world football and someone who would have walked into any other national side, has been reportedly kept out of the national set-up owing to Messi’s grudge against him since he had an affair with (and later married) his friend and former Argentina international Maxi Lopez’s wife.