Overcoming France after 120 minutes of dramatic competition and a breathtaking penalty shootout in the 2022 World Cup final, Argentina was crowned world champion after 36 years of waiting, creating a launching pad for captain Lionel Messi. Enter the “temple of football legends”.

Captain Messi lifts the 2022 World Cup championship trophy

The third world championship title is a worthy reward for the tireless efforts of Argentine football after many unsuccessful battles with at least two defeats at the “final barrier” which are final matches. The 1990 and 2014 World Cups concluded. Argentina’s victory in the 2022 World Cup also honors the efforts of the entire South American football community to fight against the dominance of European “giants” over the past 20 years in an attractive arena. most on the planet.

 

Argentina’s World Cup championship title this time has a great imprint on captain Lionel Messi, who has made many contributions to contemporary world football with his dedicated attitude and dedication at both club and national levels. National team. 

In what could be Messi’s last appearance at the World Cup, his success with Argentina marked a new milestone, adding the only missing piece to the striker’s massive collection of achievements. whose talent is compared to the two “soccer kings” Pele and Diego Maradona.

Like many other South American boys, at the age of 5, “La Pulga” Lionel Andres Messi practiced playing football for a local club coached by his father. Just three years later, he was transferred to the youth team of Newell’s Old Boys, a name well known outside the borders of Argentina.

 

At the age of 11, Messi had growth hormone problems but his family did not have the financial means to take care of their child. Although they were very interested in this young talent, because they were “overwhelmed” by the expensive expenses, River Plate Club had to swallow their hatred and watch Barcelona steal Messi away with a contract written on… a napkin, the content of which was only Respond immediately to paying for Messi’s medical treatment!

Coming to a new land, young Messi officially became a member of the famous La Masia training facility, practicing, studying, and playing every day with teammates of the same age such as Cesc Fabregas and Xavi Hernandez. , Sergio Busquet, Andres Iniesta… Surely at that time, “El Pulga” could never have thought that he and his friends were participating in the process of forming a proud “golden generation” of Catalan football in particular. Spain in general!

Playing for Barca’s B team since 2000 at the age of 13, Messi left his mark in his debut with 3 goals and in 30 matches of the entire season, he scored a total of 35 goals. A very convincing number for a young player whose forte is the role of playmaker. 

In the 2004 – 2005 season, Messi was promoted to play for Barcelona’s first team and immediately set a series of club records: Youngest player to play in La Liga (17 years and 114 days) and Scorer youngest (17 years, 10 months and 7 days).

Messi and other teammates in the Barcelona shirt

Satisfied with the player they personally trained , Barcelona thought about “binding” this young talent for a long time.  Barcelona  convinced his family to let Messi gain Spanish citizenship and gave him a 5-year contract (until 2010) with a cancellation clause of up to 150 million euros.

Watching this young man with a modest physique compete, many experts were filled with admiration. The ball doesn’t seem to leave Messi’s feet every time he decides to accelerate, eliminating all obstacles on the way just to reach the goal of the opponent’s goal. Extremely quick turns of the ball missed all the most famous defenders, followed by a quick sprint and quick kick in the penalty area, defeating the goalkeepers… This is the familiar “scenario” But almost no defense can stop “La Pulga”.

Even master coach Arsene Wenger had to exclaim with admiration: “Messi is the only one who can change the game with just a few steps. The best player in the world with a very long distance compared to the rest.” again. Messi plays like in Play Station taking advantage of every mistake the opponent makes.”

That’s what people talk about every time Messi returns to play for the national team, which witnesses a lot of sadness, including disappointment, of this talented player. That is so different from the countless glory he reaped when playing for Barcelona and then PSG at the club level.

In addition to winning the 2005 World Youth Football Championship and the 2008 Beijing Olympics soccer gold medal as a member of youth teams, for a long time, Messi did not touch success with the team. Argentina has “grown up” since 2006, when he was considered the youngest Argentine player to play in the World Cup arena.

Messi with the Copa Ammerica championship trophy and was declared a “saint” after this tournament

After winning the 1993 Copa America championship, Argentine football fell into a spiral of chaos, with a terrible decline in performance, culminating in defeat in three consecutive major finals, including the 2014 World Cup and the Copa America. 2015 and Copa America 2016. 

 Lionel Messi was unbelievably unlucky in the two Copa America finals, leading to him having to announce his retirement from the team twice before gritting his teeth again. For a long time, the country’s “Tango dance” team cried and laughed at the bad luck of Messi, Sergio Aguero and Di Maria – the three biggest stars of contemporary Argentine football.

In August 2021, the 21-year relationship between the Argentine star and Barcelona ended when the two sides could not reach an agreement on signing a new contract because of financial barriers according to La Liga laws. 

The Argentine striker accepted a half salary cut to continue playing for “La Blaugrana” for 5 more seasons, including playing for Barcelona for 3 more seasons, then moved to the US to complete the remaining period of the contract as planned. plan.

However, Barcelona’s huge debts forced this team to cut its salary budget to be able to continue participating in La Liga in addition to convincing Messi to reduce his salary and urgently sell his high-paid players. Nothing was finally done and Messi left.

Joining PSG, Messi is still not really satisfied as the integration process is too slow, he himself cannot regain his old form in a day or two. PSG with Messi alongside Neymar and Mbappe still has only one Ligue 1 title and continues to fail in the Champions League.

Coach Lionel Scaloni took over the “hot seat” in Argentina after the team stopped early in the 2018 World Cup. Under this young coach, Argentina took on a new look with a series of 36 unbeaten matches before the final round. World Cup 2022. 

Messi seems to be revived alongside talented young teammates such as Lautaro Martinez, Paulo Dybala, Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes, Emiliano Martinez…, winning third place at Copa America 2019 and then winning Copa America 2021, winning the Super Cup title. Intercontinental 2022 by defeating Euro 2020 champion Italy with a score of 3-0.

Starting with a defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup, Argentina then won 6 consecutive victories against Mexico, Poland, Australia, Netherlands, Croatia and France to reach the victory podium for the home team. The champion of the world. 

Lionel Messi scored 7 goals and 3 assists, setting a series of personal records (most World Cup matches, most World Cup minutes, most World Cup wins, most World Golden Balls). Cup…) and also brought Argentina to the third World Cup championship title in this country’s football history.

Messi lifted the Cop Ammerica championship trophy with his teammates in the national team shirt

Now Messi has fulfilled the dream of a lifetime of football players by having all the titles and glory within his reach. With a warm family, sufficient assets, remaining talent and full enthusiasm, Messi will surely have more motivation to devote to football for many more years. 

Just help PSG fulfill their dream of European hegemony and “La Pulga” will fulfill its wish before retiring to retirement in a peaceful place, maybe the “promised land” of the American professional tournament or at home country Argentina.