Copa America: Messi should emulate Lebron
Last night we watched Lebron James lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to their first NBA title. James finally delivered on his promise of bringing a championship to his hometown. And much like James before last night, Lionel Messi has been criticized for not delivering any trophies for his home country of Argentina.
Messi’s international career with Argentina has been one of many highs and lows. His missed chance against Germany in the 2014 World Cup Final certainly still haunts him. Then there was his lackluster performance in the Copa America Final in 2015, where his team lost in penalties against Chile.
Despite all his success at the club level with Barcelona, Messi’s “biggest” accomplishment for Argentina has been an Olympic Gold medal in 2008. However, that time Argentina was lead by Juan Roman Riquelme and Messi was still considered a player in development. And more importantly, no one cares about Olympic medals in soccer.
On June 24th, Messi will turn 29 years old. He is no longer in his prime and the opportunities for glory at the international level are becoming scarce. This Copa America represents a big chance for Messi to end Argentina’s 23 years trophy-less drought.
Everyone expects Argentina to take care of a US team that has not made much progress in the last two years. Unless Klinsmann manages to sneak into the Argentinian locker room and roofies their water like Maradona did against Italy in 1990, Argentina will meet either Chile or Colombia in the final. But regardless of the opponent, It will be up to Messi to decide how will he write the last chapters of his international legacy.
If Messi is able to pull a Lebron James — like performance in the next two games and finally win a major tournament with Argentina, there will no doubt as to who is the greatest footballer that ever played.
