Messi’s World Cup final is not just a competition. It’s an issue, rebellion Mr. Lowe

TheIonel Messi has the farewell he wished for. Or theatre, at least. Sunday striker – famous shame At the international level – the sixth final will be played with Argentina. This will be his 26th World Cup match, more than anyone else, he has scored another record. It will also be his last.

“Being able to finish my journey in the final makes me happy, everything I experienced here is beautiful,” Messi said at the end of another night that had another moment, like a gift given: something to carry when he’s gone. Which is four days away now.

four days. one night. Everyone “knew” that this would be Messi’s last World Cup, the feeling that you might never see him again as he clung to every match. He knew it, too, and that’s part of the reason it happened that way: Call it a mission, or a destiny, or just plain fun. Seize the day, there is not much left. However, 16 years after his debut, as a substitute in that 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro, after hearing that he was still affected. wait what? Will your final be your last? “Yes, for sure it will be,” Messi said Tuesday night. Many years passed until the next day [World Cup] And I don’t think I will. Finishing this way is beautiful.”

So that’s goodbye with regards to Argentina. Still, what a way to go. It’s not over yet: the greatest game of all time awaits. It’s huge, of course. But even getting there I felt something had been achieved, like some realization had been achieved. By Messi and about Messi. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s (almost) gone. Late in Lucille Court, an Argentinian TV reporter in Level 0 chose not to ask her final question. Instead, and you may have seen the clip by now, she used it to give thanks: “Whatever the outcome, you made people happy,” she said. “You have touched everyone’s lives.”

In the end, he made himself happy too, with more than a little help from friends new and old. At the end of the 2016 Copa America, which was defeated by Chile in the final, he was left behind. He didn’t always feel embraced, the weight heavy; He said he felt like everything was his fault. As he was told here: “You had to eat a lot of shit.” Yes, he admitted, but it’s different now. “For a while now I’ve been enjoying it a lot, everything that happens to us. To be able to finish it all in the final makes me happy.”

This was manager Lionel Scaloni’s credo: the sun will rise tomorrow. Messi embraced that message and the time he left behind; It became his message, too, and there was a sense that his teammates were invested not only in Argentina’s success but in his happiness, in doing some kind of justice.

“People have understood that this is something we have to enjoy,” Messi said. “We did extraordinary things: Copa América, 36 matches unbeaten, World Cup final. Obviously we all want to win it but it’s a football game and anything can happen. Hopefully this will be different from Brazil.” [in 2014, when they lost against Germany]. I don’t know if this is my best tournament, but I’ve been enjoying it since we got here.”

In Qatar he has five goals and three assists. The stellar moments here are his. The goal against Mexico and the goal against Australia, very, very Messi have both been seen a thousand times if not quite like this. The assist against Croatia, instant iconic: Jusko Gvardiol, the defender everyone was talking about, turned inside out and back again, hips slashed, legs tied in cartoonish knots.

Messi leads the tournament statistics in terms of goals, assists, chances created, dribbles and fouls conceded. That still didn’t stop him. He played every minute. It was Maradona. He was done Maradoning, In fact. And this is not just about excellence; There is energy, expression of commitment, and identity. the sacrifice. Messi held his hamstring for a long time, and then he did that for gvardiol. It is about the absolute refusal to give up: it was he who declared that this did not happen after the defeat of Saudi Arabia. Driving pulls them through. There may not be a moment of skill like the semi-finalist, but that doesn’t compare to his goal tally against Mexico.

There was a flash of anger before the goal against Australia. Matches against the Netherlands. Edge, aggression, shyness if you will. The: What are you looking at, idiot? Argentina fans loved it. Looks like Messi has it too. “It’s always been like this,” Scaloni insists, and there’s a fierce and angry competitor in him, but the fact that the coach said it was helpful. They had never felt him so close, nor had he felt them like this. This is not just a competition, it is a cause. insurgency.

“Sometimes it’s tough, it’s not easy to go out on the pitch knowing you have to win and if not, you’ll go home. We’ve been doing that since game two. That has a very high mental cost, and the group has overcome that.” , “He said. “We’ve played five ‘finals’ and we have one more.”

It would be wrong to forget how he led them to the finals before, but that’s another thing again. It looks different, it looks different, it behaves differently. Not least because a different generation is on the journey with him, his role is changing, and some of the weight of the past is relieved, left behind. Yet there is a legacy too, says Scaloni, in what he leaves them. They, in turn, were desperate to leave him for this last dance.

“What he did in the Copa América was amazing, but I’ve never seen anything like this World Cup in my life,” said goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. Christian Romero added, “It’s crazy. Everyone knows what he’s like as a player, but he’s the kind of person he is. He’s an example, a guy who always wants more. He takes a lot of hits but he always comes back up.”

Over the past few days, one photo has been making the rounds: In it, 11-year-old Julian Alvarez poses side by side with his idol, Lionel Messi. He now has another 11: his teammates this time, Messi holding him in the lock after the Manchester City forward scored against Croatia.

“The things Leo can do are unbelievable,” he said, and he saw it himself, there to finish an impossible pass, the best of the competition. Except perhaps what Messi gave Nahil Molina in the previous round.

Messi had made that pass and the tackle launched Alvarez, running and packing, to score the second goal. Meanwhile, it was Enzo Fernandez who kicked the ball that led to Messi’s first scoring, via penalty kick. And he also grew up watching the man who gave Argentina the lead, who snatched them up and dragged them to their second World Cup final, just like Maradona.

In 2016, when Messi was considering moving away, Fernandez posted a message on Facebook that he had signed to her, saying sorry and thank you. It featured: “How are we, a bunch of us who don’t live with the 1% pressure you do, 40 million people making ridiculous demands of perfection when we don’t know you, will try to impress you? Do what you want but consider staying in and enjoying it.”

Now it is at last, the time of his life and their lives bear us all to a final farewell.