Messi's Spot In History

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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 won it despite representing Argentina and Colombia. George Best didn’t get a chance, for Northern Ireland never qualified.
Johann Cruyff, one of my favourites, surely has a place in football folklore. The Dutch proponent of total football was stopped in the 1974 final by Beckenbauer’s Germans.
A quick check revealed an astonishing number of soccer magicians who missed out on the World Cup. Ferenc Puskas, Eusebio Zico, Socrates, Michel Platini, Stanley Matthews, Lev Yashin are only some of them.
So a World Cup win is not a true measure of greatness. All football maestros need not be World Cup winners, and conversely all world Cup winners are not geniuses. Football is a game where team effort trumps individual brilliance. So, why do we expect Messi to catapult a side mired in mediocrity to a World Cup triumph?
That brings us to the question, why can’t Messi replicate his Barcelona success for the national team. The answer is simple: Barcelona is a complete team with some of the best talents in the world. They provided Messi with the passes and freedom to work his magic up front.
So it’s puerile to deride him as club class. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo may not be World Cup winners, but they are the best of their generation. They deserve all praise.

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