As this FIFA World Cup tournament keeps proving, it’s always unwise to put limits on Lionel Messi. And so whether it’s a possibility or a probability, there is a chance that the 39-year-old’s international career ends in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday in the final, against the very team that could have sent him on a very different journey.
Those of us at the South American Under-20 Championship in Colombia at the start of 2005 will never forget it.
Argentina paraded a mop-haired left-footed playmaker, only 17 and seemingly half as tall as everyone else. He bore no resemblance to an elite athlete — until we saw him play.
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Back then, an extraordinary 21½ years ago, Messi was already giving a masterclass. The way the ball stuck to his left foot was uncanny, but there was something else. This youngster was not doing flicks and tricks 40 yards from goal. He appeared to have an extraordinary capacity to understand space, to see where and when he could hurt the opposition. He was clearly going to be something special, and all of us there watching him were delighted to be in on the secret.
Because at the time he was an unknown. He had lived in Rosario until age 13, before he moved to Barcelona, but had played only a handful of games for the club, and even Argentina did not know a great deal about him — though they knew that Spain were trying to persuade him to represent the country, and that was enough to spur them into action.
Argentina played their cards well and offered Messi a chance to represent the land of his birth on Aug. 17, 2005 in a friendly against Hungary — though he was sent off less than a minute into his debut.
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For a while, he was mocked for his choice. Spain won the World Cup in 2010 and the European Championship in 2008 and 2012, while Argentina floundered. A full decade ago, after another heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Chile at the Copa América — in the very same stadium he will play Sunday — Messi retired from the national team.
He soon reconsidered, and the sport is all the better for it. Over the past five years, Argentina put an emphatic end to a long dry run with two Copa América triumphs, plus the World Cup in Qatar four years ago, and they now aim to retain their crown in Sunday’s final against Spain.
And the big match is also a reunion for the two coaches. Almost a decade ago, Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni was working on his coaching badges in Spain. One of his teachers was Luis de la Fuente, who will be in the opposite dugout for Sunday’s showdown.
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There are connections everywhere. Earlier in the competition, De la Fuente was asked which foreign player he would most like to have on his Spain roster. The answer — so quick it came out almost before the question had been completed — was Argentina’s Julián Álvarez. Now, as De la Fuente plans for the final, he will be dwelling on ways to stop Álvarez and his combination with Messi.
Clearly, his answer will not be as ludicrous as that of England coach Thomas Tuchel, who ended the game defending so deep it was almost as if his team were a group of bats hanging off their crossbar. Spain’s response will always be to have as much of the ball as possible, and it will be fascinating to see whether they can starve a decent supply to Messi and Álvarez as they did to Kylian Mbappé & Co. in Tuesday’s semifinal win against France.
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We should already have had a taste of how this clash of styles might play out. Because Argentina and Spain were due to face each other in the Finalissima (the contest between the champions of Europe and South America.)
Argentina wanted to play the game last year, but there was no space available in the calendar. A combination of FIFA World Cup qualification and the UEFA Nations League makes it extremely hard for European teams to face opposition from other continents unless it’s in the World Cup or the buildup to the tournament.
Argentina, for example, did not face European opposition after overcoming France in the 2022 final until they took on Iceland in their final warmup match before this year’s World Cup. And so the Finalissima was scheduled for March in Doha, but when the political situation in the Middle East became amplified, it forced a cancellation.
Spain proposed some European alternatives, and Argentina put forward Buenos Aires as an option, knowing that Spain would not agree. And so the game did not happen, and now there is no need for it.
It’s finally happening, but with the biggest prize at stake.
