{"id":788075,"date":"2026-07-08T11:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/788075\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:12:13","slug":"messi-taps-into-his-seemingly-endless-supply-of-brilliance-in-argentina-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/788075\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi taps into his seemingly endless supply of brilliance in Argentina win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A giant statue of Lionel Messi stands in the town of Cutral C\u00f3, Argentina, in the Patagonian desert.SARAH PABST\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

One of the offbeat, lead-in stories to this World Cup<\/a> involved the unveiling of an eight-storey statue of Lionel Messi overlooking a remote Argentine town in the Patagonian desert. <\/p>\n

Meant to represent Messi\u2019s World Cup victory four years ago \u2013 kneeling, hand extended \u2013 it looks more like a guy in the midst of celebrating finding his car keys under the couch. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a textbook folly, but nobody wanted to say that because everyone gets it. If you\u2019re going to build a quasi-religious shrine to some living person not yet 40, this is probably the guy. Still, weird. <\/p>\n

After Tuesday, everyone in Argentina will have one additional question for the sculptor \u2013 can you make it a little bigger?<\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: America rigs the World Cup, then bows out as a laughingstock<\/a><\/p>\n

After his great rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, exited the World Cup stage forever on Monday, Messi was left with no one and nothing to overcome. People will argue about it forever because it\u2019s fun, but everyone now accepts that the Argentine is the greatest ever<\/a>. All you need to come to that conclusion is to have seen him in his prime. <\/p>\n

But great artists aren\u2019t happy playing their hits, no matter how big the audience. They want to record new music. And so Messi, 39, came out Tuesday and put on one of the great performances of his long career. <\/p>\n

Part of its brilliance was the long lead-in. Famously, Messi doesn\u2019t really practice any more. He hoards his energy for key moments. Against Egypt, he extended that go-slow period for the first 80 minutes of the game. During that time, he missed a penalty. When you noticed him, it was to notice how little you\u2019d noticed him otherwise. <\/p>\n

Ask us your questions about the World Cup and Canada’s historic run<\/a><\/p>\n

In that time, Egypt went up 2-0 and had a third (truly spectacular) goal disallowed. This was no fluke. Egypt was flying. The upset of the tournament wasn\u2019t just on. It was almost done. Then Messi awakened.<\/p>\n

His greatest of many great skills has always been the ability to create his own space. Obviously, everyone on the other team is hyperfocused on crowding him and shoving him around. Nonetheless, whenever you see Messi on the field, it looks like everyone in opposing colours has lost track of him. He\u2019s standing in some dangerous position alone, about to push the knife in. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Trailing 2-0 late in Tuesday’s round of 16 match against Egypt, Messi led Argentina to a dramatic comeback win to keep its World Cup championship defence alive.Jacob Kupferman\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

That was the first goal. Messi outside the box, his Terminator targeting apparatus picking out a teammate 25 yards away through a crowd of bodies, and putting a ball directly on their forehead. 2-1. <\/p>\n

Four minutes later, Messi ran into a scrum inside the Egyptian box. Everyone else was stabbing at the ball blindly. Only Messi was able to find a pocket of air. <\/p>\n

The ball came to him poked off a teammate\u2019s foot. He had maybe a quarter of a second to judge its angle and rotation. It was running away from him, while he fell to one side. Messi wound up his leg \u2013 you could actually see him slowing it in order to increase accuracy \u2013 and shinned it into the goal.<\/p>\n

The game wasn\u2019t won until Enzo Fernandez\u2019s winning goal 10 minutes later, but though he had no part in it, Messi made that happen, too. He\u2019d convinced the Egyptians that no matter what they did, they were losing in the end. Because how do you beat this guy when he\u2019s decided to win? Experience suggests it\u2019s not possible. <\/p>\n

That must be why so few Egyptians sprinted back to defend in the final few minutes of a tie game, leaving Fernandez with only one man to beat. I guarantee you that if Egypt had been in the same position against Belgium or Morocco, the box would have looked like a Cairo nightclub. <\/p>\n

What Folarin Balogun’s red card suspension means for the rest of the World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

This is what separates great players from icons \u2013 great ones beat you with their ability; iconic ones beat you with their ability multiplied by their reputations. <\/p>\n

Afterward, Messi wept repeatedly. He\u2019d cry a bit, cheer a bit, cry a bit. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, always blank faced mid-game, was so emotional in his sideline interview that he had to abandon it. Messi\u2019s teammates got so carried away they threw him in the air for a bit, nearly dropping him in the process. <\/p>\n

Argentina is already mourning Messi\u2019s loss. That\u2019s the only way to explain the extreme reaction to a round of 16 win, no matter how great, by the defending champions. Tuesday\u2019s close call forced them to get right up close with the idea that this guy won\u2019t be around forever. <\/p>\n

Messi hasn\u2019t said whether he intends for this World Cup to be his last. Currently, he shows no obvious signs of decline. Age has only forced him to diversify his game. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

With the match won and Messi the hero again, his teammates threw him in the air in celebration.Erik S. Lesser\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

You can see him reacting less and thinking more, mainly because his reaction time has gone from uncanny to merely superhuman. Now you can\u2019t be sure how he\u2019s going to make you look silly, only that he is. As long as he is deployed amidst elite talent, this version of Messi may be even more lethal.<\/p>\n

In a perfect world, Messi\u2019s intent is to do it like John Elway. Win two back-to-back and then call it a day. He can continue barnstorming for rubes in Miami. Why not? They pay him like a pasha to work 15 total minutes a week. I\u2019d never quit that job either. But there are only two ways to go out internationally when you\u2019re in his position.<\/p>\n

One is the Diego Maradona way. Maradona won the 1986 World Cup pretty much by himself. He did nearly the same thing at the 1990 version. Then he was disqualified from the 1994 tournament for doping. And that was it. He didn\u2019t retire from football. Football retired him. <\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the Pele way. The Brazilian won his third World Cup at the age of 29, leading what was arguably the greatest team of all time, did a bit of a farewell tour and called it a day. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason why one of those two great rivals is more highly regarded than the other, and that\u2019s it. If you have a chance to say goodbye while people remember you\u2019re at your peak, take it. <\/p>\n

Messi is still at his best in America right now. He doesn\u2019t have to leave once it\u2019s over. No one will want him to. Which is why it\u2019s the perfect time to go. <\/p>\n

Canada’s historic World Cup run is over. Ask us your questions<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, July 8 at 1 p.m. ET, sports writers Cathal Kelly, Paul Attfield, Neil Davidson and David Ebner will be live answering your questions about the World Cup, Canada\u2019s showing and where the team goes from here. Submit your questions in the box below or e-mail us at audience@globeandmail.com<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A giant statue of Lionel Messi stands in the town of Cutral C\u00f3,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[264632,1397,49,48,2922,82,8023],"class_list":["post-788075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2026worldcupglobe","tag-appwebview","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-noastack","tag-sports","tag-topstory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}