Messi breaks down barriers with Argentina
Reuters - Sunday 10 June 2012, 13:41
Lionel Messi took a long time to
reproduce his best Barcelona club form for Argentina but when he
did it was an explosion.
His hat-trick in a remarkable 4-3 friendly win over
arch-rivals Brazil in New Jersey on Saturday took his tally for
the national side to 26 goals in 70 matches and he saved the
best until last.
His third goal, six minutes from time at Meadowlands
Stadium, was a classic sealed with a trademark run and
unstoppable shot into the top corner of the goal from outside
the penalty area.
The little ace has not always had it so good. He has had to
overcome criticism, some of it severe and even nasty, from
fellow Argentines who accused him of being a Catalan and lacking
passion for his country.
He never played first division football in Argentina, having
moved to Barcelona in his early teens, but fans were forgetting
that he helped his country's under-20s win the World Youth Cup
in 2005.
This year he has scored seven goals in three internationals
and while his first two hat-tricks for Argentina have been in
friendlies, three goals against five times world champions
Brazil is always special.
He is now Argentina's fourth highest scorer behind Gabriel
Batistuta (56), Hernan Crespo (35) and Diego Maradona (34) with
potentially another decade in front of him in top class football.
GREAT MOMENTS
"Luckily [Messi] is Argentine and we can enjoy him," said
coach Alejandro Sabella.
"He's been going through great moments for quite some time,
he won the last three Ballons d'Or in Europe and he's delighting
us with great performances.
"We try to play a different game from Barcelona, more
vertical, because we don't have the Barcelona players to play
their game," Sabella said by way of explaining that Messi is
finding his place and style in the Argentina team.
Making Messi captain may have been the key, Sabella having
done so as soon as he took charge last August following
Argentina's disappointing Copa America on home soil.
Carlos Bilardo did the same with Maradona when he began
preparing a team for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, which
Argentina won.
Messi scored a crucial equaliser in a 2-1 away win over
Colombia in a qualifier in November and followed that with his
first hat-trick in February's friendly 3-1 away win over
Switzerland.
By the time Argentina crashed Ecuador 4-0 in a World Cup
qualifier at the River Plate stadium nine days ago with a
rampant Messi one of four different scorers, he was enjoying
unprecedented rapport with an appreciative home crowd.
Sabella is building a team around Messi for the 2014 finals
in Brazil while his ace leads a world class attack that
compensates for frailties in defence.
Some may argue that Messi has already cemented a place among
the all time greats even if he never wins the World Cup, while
others believe he needs to do that.
Messi has said it is his biggest goal and that he has dreamt
of it happening.