Three finals in three years for the Argentine football team but no winners’ medals. Two defeats against Chile in the Copa America finals and one World Cup defeat to Germany in 2014 meant that the country's international stars were under a lot of pressure. Thwarted expectations and dreams had Argentine winger Angel di Maria considering retirement from international duty. And he wasn’t the only one.
Captain Lionel Messi announced his shock retirement from Argentina’s football team in June soon after their loss to Chile only to turn around and rescind his decision a few weeks later. His Barcelona teammate Javier Mascherano thought of doing the same as well.
Di Maria was no different from his compatriots who felt the immense disappointment of three major defeats. In an interview with the Argentine television channel, TyC Sports, the PSG player opened up about his struggle to come to terms with their failures.
He admitted to going through a similar reaction as Messi but claims his family, his father and wife, talked him out of it.
“Losing one final, that happens, but when it happens three times in a row, that is something else entirely. I thought about making the same decision, but my wife and my father were the first in stopping me. It was impossible for me to say, 'I am leaving.'”
The winger was disturbed enough to consider seeking professional help from a psychologist but realised that accepting his fate was something he had to do on his own.
"I wanted to go see a psychologist, but in the end, I didn't go because I knew it was something I had to figure out in my own head.”
However, Di Maria doesn’t seem to be completely as ease. He has had a disappointing start to the season with PSG and been criticised for his poor form by the French press. He is currently training with his national team for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Paraguay.
With no Messi in the side, Edgardo Bauza’s men will be put under even more scrutiny to see how they fare without the one of the greatest of all time in their midst. The team has won only one in five games when Messi hasn’t played and are only third in their group behind Uruguay. However, Argentina won all three of the games that Messi played in.
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