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Argentina is one of the most prestigious national football teams in the world. With two World Cup triumphs and 14 Copa America wins, they are among the most decorated countries in football history.
A steady supply of world-class players ensures the country is always in the upper echelons of international football, and perennially considered among the favourites to triumph in an international tournament.
However, for all of the talented footballers who have represented Le Albeceleste in the last two decades, the country finds itself embroiled in an international trophy drought. There has been no senior national team title since their Copa America win of 1993, while the last time they lifted the most prestigious trophy in football was when inspirational legend Diego Maradona captained his country to victory at the 1986 World Cup.
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This is rather appalling for a country which has seen the likes of Gabriel Batistuta, Hernan Crespo, Diego Simeone, Mauricio Pochetino, Ariel Ortega, Juan Sebastian Veron, Juan Roman Riquelme, to name a few.
Hopes have been raised in every tournament since the 1993 Copa win, and each time, those hopes got dashed as a talented crop of players failed to step up to the occasion.
These hopes reached new heights with the emergence of an arguably even more talented group of young players led by a certain Lionel Messi, who triumphed in consecutive World Cups at Youth level in 2005 and 2007.
These youngsters, which included Messi, Aguero, Fernando Gago, Angel Di Maria, Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez were seen as future world beaters who would eventually end their nation’s quest for global domination.
The growth of Lionel Messi into arguably the greatest player of all time only intensified those hopes, and many believed that with him leading the line, Argentina could once again become kings of world football.
As it turns out, over 13 years on from bursting onto world consciousness in Netherlands 2005, Lionel Messi is no closer to achieving his dreams with the national team despite achieving fulfilment on an individual and at club level.
After the heartbreaking defeat in the final of the Copa America Centenario in 2016 which made it a hat-trick of consecutive final defeats for the 31-year-old, a distraught Messi felt the disappointment was too much and announced his retirement from international football.
The country was sent into shockwaves, and pleas from all and sundry including the president of Argentina finally convinced Messi to rescind his decision.
He came back to inspire his country in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, but once again, Argentina flattered to deceive, and the buck of the blame was once more laid at the feet of Lionel Messi, with a lot of his compatriots including Diego Maradona voicing their belief that he failed to step up to the plate.
As expected, there were changes to the Argentine setup following their shambolic World Cup campaign. Jorge Sampaoli announced his resignation to be replaced by Lionel Scaloni, while record appearance maker Javier Mascherano also announced his retirement from international duties.
Even though he was silent on his future with the Argentine team, there was a lot of speculation over what Messi’s decision would be, it, therefore, came as no surprise when coach Scaloni announced his squads for the international windows of September and October without the name of the country’s record goalscorer.
Even though he hasn’t come out to publicly announce his retirement, with the national association saying the door was still open for him, it would be in the interest of all parties for Messi’s decision to be final. Here are five ways in which Messi's absence might benefit Argentina.
#5 There would be less pressure on the national team
Messi’s status as one of the greatest of all time is unquestionable. The little maestro has shown the uncanny ability to almost single-handedly decide the outcome of matches on his own, either by scoring goals or through creating due to his premier playmaking abilities.
Argentina, as stated earlier, is also one of the superpowers of world football, and their heritage, as well as the crop of players always available to them, put the country under pressure to win every tournament they contested in.
This pressure, however, hit new heights with the drought the country is experiencing, as well as the emergence of the Lionel Messi. The longer the drought went on and the better Messi became only served to increase the pressure on the national team to deliver.
The fans became almost obsessive with their desire to see ‘Maradona’s successor’ lead them to World glory much like his predecessor, and every failure at a major tournament only increased the pressure heading into the next for Messi and his teammates to deliver.
As seen throughout history, football teams under pressure to deliver, rarely live up to expectations, and this was evident in the Argentine team at the last World Cup, where the anxiety could be seen on the faces of the players particularly Messi, and this led to an immense fear on the part of the players in discharging of their duties.
Messi’s departure from the national team would reduce expectations considerably, and in the absence of the weight of expectations, a talented crop of players could finally fulfil their potential and deliver on the international stage.
#4 It offers an opportunity for Dybala
Paulo Dybala courted world attention with his performances in leading Juventus to the domestic double and the Champions League final of 2017, particularly in the quarter-final where his brace in the 3-0 aggregate win over Messi’s Barcelona sent across the message of being a potential heir to his compatriot’s throne.
The fact that he was Argentine got fans licking their lips at the prospect of the two creative wizards linking up together for the national team, and hope was expended that the pair could inspire Argentina to glory in Russia.
However, a year on from his break-out season, and Dybala is yet to be fully integrated into the national team.
The two matches he played together with Messi in World Cup qualification were unmitigated disasters, as the two players got in each other’s way most of the time due to the similarity of their playing styles and occupation the same position on the field. After promising to brainstorm on a solution to the conundrum, former coach Jorge Sampaoli gave up on it altogether and dropped Dybala from his next squad.
Heading into the World Cup, there was a genuine possibility that Dybala would not make it to Russia, and this was rather disappointing for a player who scored 26 goals in all competitions for Juventus in the just-concluded season.
As it happened, Dybal ultimately made it on the plane to the World Cup, but only played a peripheral role, making just two appearances in the opening two matches for a combined total of less than 30 minutes, and did not make it off the bench for either of the crunch fixtures against Nigeria and France.
Dybala is 24-year-old, and at the heights of his powers, so it is really disappointing that a player of his abilities has just 14 appearances for the national team in three years.
Messi and Dybala are similar types of players, albeit not on the same level as the Barcelona man, and for as long as Messi is around, Dybala would continue to take the backseat, which is a real shame.
However, Messi’s romance with the national team has not exactly gone according to the script, and his departure could pave the way for Dybala to rise to the occasion and be the man to lead Argentina to glory in a post-Messi era.
#3 It would give the team the opportunity to focus on other things
Lionel Messi’s otherworldly performances over the last decade have transfigured him from just a footballer into a global superstar, a celebrity, who is one of the most instantly recognizable faces anywhere on the planet.
His popularity has understandably created extra coverage of him, with interest in Messi moving from just his professional life and cutting across more mundane things such as when he met his wife and the name of his dog.
The national team is not immune from this, as whenever Argentina is preparing for any tournament, all the interest is always on Messi.
A press conference is arranged, and rather than questions about tactics, the coach is asked about how he plans to bring the best out of Lionel Messi. A new Argentine player is performing well at his club, and all attention would be on whether his gameplay is palatable with Messi’s. Players constantly have to reaffirm their belief to the press that Messi is the best player in the world at interviews and that they are all there to help him.
An in-form player (Mauro Icardi) is left off the national team, and Messi’s name is once again brought up as being the reason behind his omission (due to not being on good terms with the said player). National coaches have to constantly deny accusations of bending to Messi’s whims and convince the public that they are in charge and not Messi. Indeed, his influence is so far-reaching that Messi is foremost considered before deciding on a coach to appoint.
Messi is all that seems to be is discussed whenever Argentina is on duty, and after every poor performance by La Albiceleste, rather than seek holistic approaches to figuring out why a talented group of players keep underperforming, the coach is fired for ‘not getting the best out of Messi’, and another is hired with the promise to do same.
The 31-year-old has been the center of attraction through no fault of his for almost a decade in the national team, and his departure could offer the opportunity for Argentina to focus on other aspects of their football which is not Messi, and could end up being the better for it.
#2 The players might discover themselves without dependence on Messi
Some of the best players represent Argentina, especially in attack, where almost all their strikers play for the biggest clubs around the world and are among the most lethal in Europe.
It, therefore, comes as a surprise to see this set of players struggling to show their class on the international scene, failing to execute even the most basic of moves in the manner they would have at club level without batting an eyelid.
A huge factor in this can be attributed to the presence of Messi, as his greatness almost gives his teammates this sense of belief that with him, all things are possible, and even though he has the ability to deliver, he is still very much human with the propensity for the odd failure.
Every time Argentina took to the field, their play was so incoherent that it was almost as if their plan A revolved around giving Messi the ball, with plan B being to repeat the process of Plan A while hoping for a miracle from the Barcelona man.
It was a real shame seeing the likes of Aguero, Higuain and Ever Banega struggle to exert their influence on a match, being overshadowed due to the overdependence on Messi, and his departure could be the springboard to finally launch his compatriots to individual and thus, collective greatness.
#1 Without Messi, the team might finally win something
As shocking as it is to say, there is a possibility that Lionel Messi could be the impediment to Argentina achieving greatness.
He is one of the greatest of all time and deserves to have won at least one title on the international scene. However, sometimes football has a way of robbing footballers off their dues, such as Ronaldo de Lima or Zlatan Ibrahimovic not winning a Champions League title despite playing for some of the biggest clubs in Europe or Steven Gerrard failing to lift the Premier League in spite of his status as one of the greatest midfielders the English game has ever seen.
The time might just be right to admit that it just wouldn’t be with Messi and Argentina, as despite his best efforts, an international trophy still eludes him.
History has shown us examples of teams going on to achieve greatness after the departure of a very key player such as Spain who overcame their perennial underachiever tag to become one of the greatest teams in history after the departure of national talisman, Raul.
Such departures could give the rest of the players a kick and drive to prove that the departure of one player would not determine their collective fates, and this could be the case with Argentina if Messi decides to retire.
