Again would be a good excuse if he was creating chances like he does is barca.. or scores incredible solo goals like barca. He doesn't do either.
I mean copa America is not really important tbh, not this one anyways as it was played 1 year after the last one so doesn't matter what he does there.
In world cup final, semi final don't remember anything from him, same in previous W Cups. And Argentina isn't England, they have seen Diego do it all on his own so they expect the same from Messi (especially cuz he does it in barca week in week out). He himself missed a golden opportunity in final. Higuaín missed probably the best chance there, which btw was made by Germany.
What allows him to score those magical goals with Barcelona is having a team that actually has the balls to throw men forward, create space for him and does not have a gameplan that is quite literally give the ball to Messi and hope for the best.
This final, from second half onwards Argentina were utterly pathetic. Chile dominated the ball, and pressed Argentina from goal kicks leading them to play it long to Higuain who cannot win a header vs Medel. The rare times they got it to Messi it was at the halfway line, with only Higuain/Aguero in front of him, and one other player, usually Banega who is not someone used to or should be making that run. Messi still managed to dribble past two or three players every single time before he inevitably gets brought down, after which the set piece is inevitably wasted. They only sent on Lamela in the 115th minute.
This is the same broad problem that has been plaguing Argentina for the last 6 years, a ridiculous reliance on Messi to do
everything in attack while the rest of the team's job is to defend and run as quickly as possible to Messi to celebrate when he scores. This, brilliant plan, shockingly, fails against every decent team that is organised enough and has a plan and the personnel (Schweinsteiger, Vidal) to mark Messi.
The only supposedly world class players in Argentina apart from Messi who have performed at a decent level for Argentina are Mascherano and Di Maria, who for the third tournament in a row, was unfit for the final. Higuain, Aguero and Tevez are absolute failures.
What other World Cups has he failed in? 2006 Pekerman didn't start him vs Germany and they paid the price, not to mention he was 18 years old. 2010 he had Maradona as coach and Jonas Gutierrez at RB. 2014 he didn't perform to his level and is labelled a national failure with demands for him to be dropped.
People forget Maradona only won one World Cup for Argentina. No Copas, 1982 he came in under similar pressure to Messi in 2010 and failed vs Brazil, 1990 is incredibly similar to 2016. The only players that have had comparable pressure to perform with their NTs to Messi are Maradona and fat Ronaldo, and fatty had a breakdown during 1998.
This "Messi doesn't look the same playing for Argentina" rhetoric is from people who have watched him play only the 2014 WC, and the two Copa finals. He has been the undisputed best player for Argentina since 2011, has consistently been good in Copa knockouts (2011 when he was playing his best football for Argentina, he was incredibly unlucky to be knocked out by Uruguay) and just fallen short to an admirable Chile team on penalties twice.
Look at the reaction after the match. Literally nothing about Chile, nothing about the rest of Argentina, nothing about the horrible referee, nothing about Aguero and Mascherano retiring. Just Messi. Calling him a coward, a pussy etc. while Argentina are begging for him to come back.
This Copa absolutely 100% mattered to Argentina, more than every other nation. They are completely desperate for a trophy.
On a side note, the reason I think Messi is so devastated this time is because he missed the penalty. I think that might have been the first penalty he's missed for Argentina, certainly in shootouts.
Batigol
