Copa America 2019: Qatar 0-2 Argentina - 3 talking points

#2 Lionel Messi still to hit top gear

Messi is yet to hit top gear at Copa America Brazil 2019

While Argentine fans are no strangers to seeing the bulk of their players underwhelm on the big stages, one player who perhaps has not been too guilty of this is Lionel Messi.

With his status as an all-time great guaranteed, it serves as a no-brainer that the 31-year-old is the talisman upon which Argentina's hopes lie, as the five-time Ballon d'Or winner is more than capable of deciding the outcome of matches in an instant and his extraterrestrial abilities have come to the aid of his nation on countless occasions.

However, the last few years have not really been the best of times for Messi in an Argentine shirt, as the Barcelona number 10 suffered the ignominy of losing three consecutive finals and had to be called out of retirement post the 2016 Copa America defeat.

Elimination at the round-of-16 stage at the last World Cup saw Messi take an extended leave from national duties and having come back to the fold just in time for the Copa America, it was expected that he would be the one to lead his country's charge.

However, three games into the tournament and Messi is yet to truly spark into life. He has not created a single chance after his first two matches, while his only goal in three group stage matches came from the penalty spot to salvage a 1-1 draw with Paraguay on matchday 2.

In the match against Qatar, the most glaring miss from Lionel Messi came in the 74th minute when he received the ball in a good position off a wonderful pass from Marcos Acuna and everyone around the world would have been forgiven for thinking Argentina had gone 2-0 up, for the Rosario native had buried chances much more difficult than that on multiple occasions in his career.

However, in shocking scenes, Messi drew the ball far, high and wide and that is perhaps indicative of the state of mind he is in, as a prime Messi would have scored that goal with his eyes closed.

Lionel Messi remains Argentina's driving force and even though they managed to get out of the group stage without him hitting top gear, if they are to progress even further, they would need Messi to get into his mojo quick.