Last night, while Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Jennifer Hudson and many more were slaying the BET Awards stage, all-world forward Lionel Messi was trying to slay a dragon. He’d led his home country of Argentina to the Copa América Finals three times, and failed to capture the title. The third trip to the Finals came last summer, when Argentina lost to Chilé on penalty kicks, and that setting repeated itself last night when the same two teams, Argentina and Chile, wound up in a goalless draw after two halves of regular time, and two 15-minute overtime periods. And once again, Chilé emerged victorious, thanks in large part to a wild penalty kick miss by Messi.
Messi was immediately devastated by the kick, and buckled to the ground after it proved to be the difference in the loss minutes later. Afterwards, speaking with reporters, the four-time FIFA Ballon d’Or award recipient didn’t hold back the crushing emotions he felt, and bluntly said that he’s done playing international football.
My thinking right now and thinking about it in the locker room, I’m done playing with the national team. I tried my hardest. It’s been four finals, and I was not able to win. I tried everything possible. It hurts me more than anyone, but it is evident that this is not for me. I want more than anyone to win a title with the national team, but unfortunately, it did not happen.
“I’m done playing with the national team.” That’s a pretty difficult statement to misconstrue. If Messi sticks to these guns, last night would have been the end of a brilliant career with the national team. He first took the pitch in an Argentina jersey in 2004, and went on to score 71 goals in 136 appearances, which is a ridiculous tally. For context, Cristiano Ronaldo, who is widely regarded as the only other player worth mentioning as the “best in the world,” isn’t producing at quite Messi’s pace, scoring 60 goals in 129 appearances.
If this is truly the end, it’s been great fun Messi.
