Ten years ago, Lionel Messi lost a Copa America final after shooting a penalty into the American sky, prompting him to retire from international football.
Ten years later, Messi’s shooting issues still exist in the United States, but at the age of 39, his magic is more than overshadowing that shortcoming as he leads Argentina’s pursuit of World Cup victory.
The world champions were left facing an unexpected elimination to Egypt in the round of 16 on Tuesday due to the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s most recent penalty miss.
With barely 11 minutes left, Egypt led 2-0 thanks to goals from Mostafa Ziko and Yasser Ibrahim after Mostafa Shobeir saved his penalty effort.
Messi became the only player to miss more than one penalty in a World Cup after failing to score against Austria in the group stages for the second time in this tournament.
Messi’s failure to score four World Cup penalties is another record, albeit an undesirable one, to add to his misses against Poland four years ago and Iceland in 2018.
His career conversion record of 116 goals from 150 attempts (77 percent from the spot) is almost on par with the world average. For a player that is anything but average, what sticks out is such a weakness.
Messi was upset when he lost in a shootout against Chile in the 2016 Copa America Centenario final. He sobbed and immediately declared his unexpected retirement from international football.
He had yet to win a major tournament with Argentina at the time, and despite his talent for Barcelona, he had failed to emulate Diego Maradona by winning the World Cup back home.
He reversed that retirement in a few months. With Messi leading Argentina to two Copa America victories and their eagerly anticipated third World Cup four years ago in Qatar, ten years of those worries have long since been forgotten.
There were more tears in Atlanta, but they were happy ones because Messi had made an incredible comeback. The champions pulled themselves off the canvas to stay in contention after his cross for Cristian Romero to head in sparked an incredible comeback.
Messi scored the equalizer himself, making it his eighth straight World Cup goal and increasing his total to eight goals in five tournament games. Lionel Scaloni’s team is still in the running to win the championship after Enzo Fernandez delivered the last blow.
In the knockout stages, Argentina’s shortcomings were made clear by really strong opponents in Egypt and Cape Verde. An aging team already appears to be lacking in vitality, and Scaloni’s team has been severely damaged on the counterattack.
In the round of eight, Switzerland will present more difficult challenges before a possible semi-final matchup with England. However, there is still chance for adding a fourth star to the iconic blue and white shirt since Messi won’t let Argentina drop out of the World Cup.
