Football Ramblings

Lionel Messi didn’t win the World Cup. So what? Well, then he can’t have a place in the pantheon of football greats. Says who? That’s the popular theory. Pele won three World Cups, and Diego Maradona one. Does that make Pele a better player than Maradona? The Argentinians wouldn’t agree. So would many others. Both are wizards, let’s leave it at that. Argentina last won the World Cup in 1994 with Maradona at the helm. It’s been a long barren spell since then. Messi as Maradona’s anointed successor was expected to win the World Cup and claim his rightful place in football’s hall of fame. Four World Cups later, the dream remains just that. He came very close in 2014, only to be denied by the Germans in the final. Which is why all hopes were pinned on 2018. But the ageing Argentinian squad was brutally exposed by the talented young Frenchmen. Messi is not the only prodigious talent who has missed out on World Cup glory. Alfred Di Stefano, for all his magical feats, never w...

Regardless of what happens to Argentina at this World Cup, Messi needs to free himself of the burden of being the Albiceleste’s only hope and play his own game – with the ferocity we have come to expect from the Barcelona great. Lionel Messi  is a mythical creature. When he takes flight, he is a superhero in human form. He is complex math and unfathomable magic at the same time. He skips past challenges like light passes through stained glass. An almost supernatural being, Messi’s technical skills are so embedded it might appear to us as a scene from a sci-fi movie. He is at once light and wind, wobbling and bouncing off defenders before he appears from one side to the other as if by teleportation. Ask any of the national team coaches that will face Messi at the Russia World Cup whether they would set their team up without first deciding how to stop the Argentine playmaker? Absolutely none of them would go on to argue that Messi is not the deciding factor -- the one wh...

It took Lionel Messi 28 years to get around to playing a competitive game in the U.S. It was worth waiting for. After sitting out Argentina’s first game in the Copa America Centenario, Messi entered the second match, against Panama, as a second-half substitute, then scored three goals and assisted on a fourth in just 29 minutes. In less than half an hour, Messi was tied for the tournament lead in scoring and had taken his team through to the quarterfinals. Entering Monday’s games, seven of the 16 teams in the tournament hadn’t scored as much. All of which raises one big question heading into the final day of group play Tuesday: What will Messi do for an encore when Argentina, the world’s top-ranked team, plays win-less Bolivia, at No. 82 the lowest-rated team in the tournament.  If you believe Messi, there’s a lot of room to improve after he sat out two weeks with a bruised back. But Messi has a lot more to accomplish than simply getting his groove back...

Leicester had never won the Premier League. They'd never finished in the top five. Their last top-10 finish was in 1999-2000. They were bad enough to get relegated to England's second-tier league, the Football League Championship, in 2004. They were bad enough in England's second-tier league that they got relegated to England's third-tier league, League One, in 2008. To be fair, they only spent one season in England's third tier, quickly winning the League One title. But within the last 10 years, Leicester wasn't one of the top 44 teams in English soccer. They weren't good enough to be in the league for teams that aren't good enough for the Premier League. They finally made it back to the Premier League last year, and were close to getting relegated right back out. They finished in 14th, just six points clear of another trip down. Like many European soccer leagues, the Premier League is historically dominated by the same few teams. Only f...

Barcelona’s 2nd half against Celta Vigo will go down as one of the greatest halves of football ever played. It balanced calm and collected possession with fiery attack from the greatest front three of all time: Messi, Neymar, and Suarez. But the half will mostly be remembered for the penalty taken late in the game. Messi can make some goals seem amazing, but no one would have thought he can make a penalty seem amazing. When he stepped up to take the spot kick, no one would have predicted the piece of history we were about to see. Messi stepped up, and passed the ball for Luis Suarez to score! He gave up the chance to score his unparalleled 300th La Liga goal for Suarez’s hat trick. This exemplifies the compassion that is shown throughout the front three. You would expect them to get envious, but no. The are MSN, and they are Barcelona.

It's a game that will be talked about for generations. It was the game where Messi dismantled holding Premier League champions Manchester City on his own. It was probably the best performance of Lionel Messi's extraordinary career. He was incredible. He gave us a taste of what was to come ijn the opening 15 minutes where he nutmegged Fernandinho and made some magnificent passes. Around the 32 minute mark, he took the ball on the half way line, dribbled forward, cut back onto his left, and then made his trademark right to left through ball, whick then found Ivan Rakitic who brilliantly lobbed Joe Hart to make it 1-0 and probably seal the tie. Then came Messi's signature of the night, a nutmeg on James Milner, a man called by Ray Hodgson to be the complete English player, although he was thrown onto his backside by Messi. Even Pep Guardiola couldn't hide his awe, as he made a priceless face of surprisement. This was coming from a man who had seen Messi do everything, fro...