Can Messi Do It?

Is this the chance that Argentina cannot ignore? Can Argentina finally claim its third title for World Cup? It’s been a while since Argentina placed first in the World Cup. As Argentineans desperately wait for the time to come, it is time for Lionel Messi to shine.

Argentina is one of six host nations that won the World Cup in their country,  placing first at 1978 Argentina World Cup and then winning 1986 Mexico World Cup. And now, they want to repeat the history again through this upcoming Brazil 2014 World Cup. With Messi leading the team, Argentina remains confident that they can go far and have a chance to contest the title against Brazil.

La Albiceleste boasts its experience in the World Cup with its colorful history. They have participated in 16 World Cups. And out of 16 World Cups, they played in 11 World Cups consecutively.  Also, Argentina has gone up to semi-finals four times and placed  themselves as third during 1930 and 1990 World Cup while as first during 1978 and 1986.

This is Messi’s time. This guy is in the prime of his career and he has already proven to others that he is the best player for Argentina. During his F.C. Barcelona career, he has scored 189 goals just for five La Liga seasons alone and notched 354 goals and 128 assists totaled when adding Copa Del Rey, Champions League, and UEFA Super Cup. Not only that, he has also won FIFA Ballon d’or Awards three consecutive times (2009, 2010, 2011).

However, during his past experience as a part of Argentinian national team, Messi wasn’t able to live up to fans’ expectations. The person who outperformed others in La Liga, Champions League, and UEFA Tournament, became the center of criticisms because he failed to show his best in two previous World Cups.

For past two World Cups, all Messi had was one goal and two assists. Although he was nominated as MOM (Man Of the Match) during the game against Greece during the Group Stage elimination during 2010 World Cup, he left the stage with no goals. Many fans were upset with Messi because they didn’t get the chance to see him dominate opposing teams with his scoring touch.

But things seem to be very different for Argentina right now. Before 2012-2013, Messi was more of a goal creator but now he has stepped up and showed others that he can score in international games as well. During 2012-2013 friendly matches and World Cup qualification games, Messi scored 18 goals out of 37.  He was able to redeem himself in his national team and showed his consistency in scoring goals at Barcelona as well. 189 goals for the past 5 seasons sounds just crazy for everyone but Messi did it.

“I have arrived with the national team and I’m flipping the switch,” Messi told reporters at Ezeiza airport. “Many times it was the opposite, I would go to Barcelona and play well, this time we hope the reverse is true.”

La Albiceleste plans to use Messi as the center while employing Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Ezequiel Lavezzi, and Angel di Maria to lead the offense. Argentina has proven that the cohesion between them has finally been working which didn’t click well during South Africa World Cup. Their midfield line up has much improved since 2010 and whenever Messi falls back, they will be able to successfully back him up.  For many fans who support  teams against Argentina, it’s probably time to say goodbye to their teams because Argentina has them too easy. It is going to be entertaining to see how Argentinian offense does their work in the World Cup. Just seeing them ruthlessly  tear up other team’s defense is so fun to watch (no offense).

One of few problems that they need to focus is their defense. Previously on  2010 World Cup quarterfinals, Argentina showed that their defense was poor with a crushing defeat against Germany with a score of 4-0. German national team coach, Joachim Low, pointed out that the key to winning the game against Argentina was to exploit the empty space between Argentinian strikers and defenders because the offense hardly supports their defenders. When quickly taking the advantage of lack of defense, Germany made it look easy and crushed Argentina’s dream to go into semi-finals. If head coach Alejandro Sabella does not improve that defense and if the gap between attackers and defenders is still there, then other powerhouses such as Germany and  Brazil can easily take them down.

Also, along with defense, Argentina must make sure that their midfielders can support Messi during the game.  During the game between Germany and Argentina,  Germans  successfully marked Messi down and stopped him from falling back to his midfielders which crippled Messi from initiating any counter attacks. In order to make sure that they can contest the title, Argentina must make sure that their weakness does not get exposed.  They need to make sure that they can balance out defense by putting at least two defensive midfielders to counter against the counter attack. If defensive midfielders can back Messi up, Messi can create more goal opportunities and even score for the team.

Overall, La Albiceleste seems like they can coast through their Group F which consists of Bosnia Herzegovina, Nigeria, and Iran. Hate to break the news to these teams, but  none of the teams can stop Argentina’s speedy counter attacks, so it’s probably best for them to play defensive game if possible. Even if they mark Messi, the Barcelona forward can always pass the ball to Higuain and Aguero who would have no problem finding the back of the net. This is perhaps the last time that Messi can prove that he is the best player as he is in his prime and make this a very entertaining World Cup.