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The 2014 FIFA World Cup final was arguably Lionel Messi’s best chance of winning world football’s biggest prize. However, the diminutive Argentinian came a cropper in the final as Argentina fell to Germany by a solitary goal.
Some critics, like ESPN FC’s Shaka Hislop, believe that Lionel Messi will not go down among the greatest in the sport’s history if he does not win the World Cup. Others refute the claim, saying that the six-time Ballon d’Or winner does not need to prove anything to anybody.
Whatever the case may be, the fact of the matter is that winning the FIFA World Cup would definitely have cemented Lionel Messi’s position as the greatest player in the history of football.
That achievement would have enhanced his already burgeoning reputation. His name would surely have been taken in the same breath with the likes of Pele and compatriot Diego Maradona.
For now, Lionel Messi’s legacy remains a point of contention. Although he has nothing left to prove in his club career, it is the glaring emptiness in his national trophy cabinet that has left the highest goal-scorer in Argentina’s history susceptible to criticism.
To make matters worse, Lionel Messi's great rival Cristiano Ronaldo has already delivered the 2016 UEFA European Championship for Portugal, despite being ruled out early in the final by a rough Dmitri Payet challenge. Despite Ronaldo's absence, his teammates did the job for him.
The last five years have been disappointing for Lionel Messi
However, more painfully, Lionel Messi has since lost three Copa America finals, doing so in 2015, 2016 and 2019. This period also saw his club Barcelona fare poorly in the UEFA Champions League, while their arch rivals Real Madrid went on to win three back to back European Cups.
Lionel Messi’s best moment came in the 2014-15 season of the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona won the competition that season as Lionel Messi had the likes of Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Dani Alves and Neymar Jr. along side him at the Nou Camp.
Five years later, it seems that with each passing year, Lionel Messi’s burden has only grown bigger. This downward trend began in that summer of 2014, more precisely, on the 13th of July, 2014 - the day of the FIFA World Cup final.
To say that the last five years have been unsuccessful for Lionel Messi would be unfair. Lionel Messi won three La Liga in this period, doing so in 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Besides, he also won the Ballon d’Or in 2015 and 2019. But in the intervening period, Real Madrid players Luca Modric (once) and Cristiano Ronaldo (twice) won the coveted award as well.
Lionel Messi's missed opportunities in international tournaments
Even the staunchest Messi critics would agree that Gonzalo Higuain probably had the best chances to win Argentina the international titles they richly deserve.
Higuain missed a golden opportunity in the 2014 FIFA World cup final when Toni Kroos’s erroneous header put the Argentine number nine through on goal but he drove his shot horribly wide.
But this was not Higuain’s only blunder. He missed glorious opportunities in the 2015 and 2016 Copa America finals as well, ensuring that the match went to penalty shootouts on both occasions, with La Albiceleste coming up short against Chile on each occasion.
Of course, Lionel Messi has been culpable as well. The Barcelona legend has failed to inspire his Argentina teammates in all these big games and also missed his spotkick in the 2016 final.
What is even worse is that in both these Copa America finals, Chile had Argentine managers. In 2015, led by Jorge Sampaoli, Chile landed their first national trophy in their 99-year football history.
Next year, Chile once again emerged victorious in the Copa America Centenario under the tutelage of another Argentine manager, Juan Antonio Pizzi, who was born in Santa Fe.
Lionel Messi and Argentina have struggled mainly because of the team's collective lack of clinical finishing. Much of the blame in this regard goes to Higuain and Rodrigo Palacio but Lionel Messi has been culpable as well.
Palacio had a glorious opportunity in extra time against Germany in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final, but he chose to unsuccessfully lob the ball over Manuel Neuer instead of taking a shot.
However, Lionel Messi missed a clear chance in that game in the 47th minute when he dragged his shot wide from a position from which he has scored numerous times for Barcelona. In the dying moments of the game, Lionel Messi hit a freekick that failed to trouble the German keeper.
Lionel Messi’s underwhelming international career
33 years old now, and arguably past his prime, it seems that Lionel Messi’s international career is poised to end on a sour, unsuccessful note. It is a fate that the six-time Ballon d’Or winner does not deserve, but football is a cruel game.
Since the defeat in the 2014 World Cup final, Lionel Messi has taken one hit after another as far as his national team is concerned. With every heartbreaking defeat, it seems as if a part of his soul numbed.
After the 2016 Copa America defeat, Messi retired from the national team, unable to bear the baggage of three consecutive years of failure. Those three years, from 2014 to 2016, were possibly his best chance to win a silverware for his nation.
More disappointment followed in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where Argentina were knocked out 4-3 in the Round of 16 by eventual champions France.
More recently, Argentina lost to Brazil in the 2019 Copa America final. The match ended in controversial circumstances, though. Argentina felt aggrieved at the referee for not consulting the VAR when a penalty could have been awarded to La Albiceleste.
Of course, it needs to be said that Lionel Messi could not score from open play or provide an assist in five matches at the tournament. In the process, the Barcelona legend has now gone nine international tournaments for Argentina without winning the trophy.
Conclusion
It has been six years since Argentina's defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final.
Messi’s legacy could have been so different if only he had managed to lay his hands on that trophy as a 27-year-old. More importantly, he has already squandered four more opportunities to win an international trophy.
Perhaps his best chance has now gone, or perhaps not, as Argentina co-host the 2021 Copa America with Colombia next summer.
