Messi makes his mark

By the time Argentina took the field to meet South Korea at Soccer City, Johannesburg on the 17th of June, it was plainly high time some spark was woven into the jaded narrative of FIFA 2010. Instead of the stuff of dreams that had been hoped for, the world had been treated to a display of languid and uninspiring football. The tame affair that had unfolded often resembled a ludicrous comedy of errors. Pundits and commentators had started to dish out thinly disguised doomsday predictions. Airwaves and blogs were abuzz with heated debates as to how intense was the death knell of the beautiful game being rung in the Rainbow Nation. Big stars of the more fancied teams had especially come in for the most stringent type of flak. English tabloids had a field day mocking the “buttery fingers” of their goalkeeper, Robert Green. In fact, goalkeeping blunders and frequent near misses at goal were becoming the leitmotif of FIFA 2010. The much-vaunted Portuguese and the Spaniards appeared woefully short of ideas. Even the Germans’ relatively respectable performance against the Aussies was shorn of the habitual Teutonic, well-oiled efficiency. An extraordinary touch of brilliance was deemed necessary to steer the world event to a respectable level of reckoning. A gush of flair and fluidity, a dash of the spectacular were called for. A player of the caliber of Lionel Messi–the player who had enthralled Catalonia and rest of the world with his sublime skills–had to deliver. And he heeded the call on that sunny afternoon in Soccer City, and the Koreans were left to bear the brunt of a performance par excellence that ripped the fabric of the lethal ennui of the status quo.

All great players have had to deal with crushing burden of expectations throughout the bulk of their careers. While some are weighed down by it (remember the incredible fizzling out of the Columbian ace Faustino Asprilla at USA 94; the striker who played a key role in dismantling the mighty Argentines by 5 goals to nil in Buenos Aires at the South American qualification stage fell well short of replicating his feat at the Finals; he remained an ineffectual onlooker through Columbia’s ignominy, which petered out with that fatal own goal by Andres Escobar), others like Messi use it as a launching pad to excel and raise their game at its highest levels. That Messi was going to be instrumental in Argentina’s World Cup campaign had acquired the status of received wisdom even as the South American giants struggled through an unusually mediocre qualification campaign. When, in late 2009, Argentina was languishing at the bottom of CONMEBOL points table, Franz Beckenbauer articulated the thoughts of millions of football devotees all around the globe when he categorically told the Spanish daily El Mundo that “There cannot be a World Cup without a player like Like Messi”.

The Catalan powerhouse F. C. Barcelona had hitched its fortunes to a playing strategy heavily centered on Messi’s phenomenal abilities on their road to revival after a brief but agonizing spell of playing second fiddle to their loathed Castillian rivals, Real Madrid. He had an exceptional La Liga season in 2006-7. While his goal against Getafe in the Copa del Rey semifinal attracted instant comparison with none other than Maradona’s ‘Goal of the Century’ against England, it was the equally (in)famous ‘Hand of God’ that was invoked by the pundits to refer to the cheeky strike he made against the fellow Catalan outfit Espanyol in a league match. He played a stellar role in Barcelona’s successful 2008-09 UEFA Champions League campaign, topping his efforts with a goal to wrap things up in the Final against Manchester United. His crowning glory came in 2009 when he was awarded the FIFA World Player of the Year.

Only the seriously aesthetically challenged could have been oblivious to the verve and dynamism of Messi’s game against the Koreans. He produced moves of exceptional quality; turned, twisted and rammed his way through the defence. His passes were a delight to behold. And, a la Maradona, he exhibited an uncanny ability to slip away from his markers. He donned the role of playmaker and provider with ardor and panache. His presence and impact were so decisive in the game that it seems almost a travesty of justice that he didn’t make it into the scoring sheet. Gonzalo Higuaín may have emerged the top scorer, but it was Messi’s game all the way. And, hopefully, he may have raised the bar for other great players and provided a template for them to perform to their potential in the forthcoming matches at FIFA 2010. It’s still early days, and it’s conceivable that Messi may find it too demanding a task to sustain his excellence as the tournament progresses. But if he does continue to deliver his best, and guides Argentina to their third World Cup triumph, the Pele-Maradona greatness debate will be relegated to the footnotes of history.