Messi squanders chance to cement legacy

RIO DE JANEIRO - Argentina captain Lionel Messi ended the World Cup final with a golden trophy in his hands, but it was not the one he wanted.

Moments after the final whistle at the Maracana stadium and with Germany's jubilant players still cavorting on the pitch, Messi was called up to receive the Golden Ball award for the tournament's best player.

He flashed a perfunctory smile, but it was with the knowledge that Argentina's defeat had prevented him from cementing his place in the pantheon of the truly great.

"The truth is it doesn't interest me at this moment," he admitted later.

While the 27-year-old has won everything there is to win -- and broken every record o break -- with Barcelona, the World Cup final offered him the opportunity to definitively seal his legacy in the sport.

Pele, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo all scored decisive goals in World Cup finals, while Diego Maradona created the goal that settled the 1986 tournament. But Messi found himself upstaged by Mario Goetze's sensational extra-time winner for Germany.

He will be haunted in particular by a glaring opportunity early in the second half, when with only Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to beat, he whipped his shot wide.

It was to be his only clear sight of goal, and his failure to seize the chance continued a narrative that had taken root earlier in the knockout phase.

Whereas Maradona seemed to grow with each match as Argentina surged to the title in 1986, scoring braces against England and Belgium in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, Messi appeared to shrink.

After dazzling in the group phase with four goals, he made the winning goal for Angel di Maria against Switzerland in the last 16, but in his own encounter with Belgium he flickered only sporadically, and in the semi-final against the Netherlands he was anonymous.

Messi has now gone four games without scoring for the first time under the stewardship of coach Alejandro Sabella, misplacing his gift for making a difference at precisely the wrong time.

- 'Biggest thing there is' -

His failure to take chances in the final suggested that the fatigue of which his father spoke recently may have weighed more heavily upon him than he has yet admitted.

"It is a very demanding tournament and it drains everyone physically," admitted Sabella. "He is already among the greatest of all time."

With 354 goals in 425 games for Barcelona, many of them works of art, Messi's greatness cannot be denied, but as he himself has admitted, there is no substitute for a World Cup winner's medal.

"I would give all my personal records to be world champion," he had told German tabloid Bild ahead of the final.

"I'd prefer to win the World Cup than the Ballon d'Or. As a player, winning the World Cup is the biggest thing there is. It's something you dream of as a youngster and that dream never fades away."

Whereas Netherlands successfully man-marked Messi during the semi-final, Germany opted to crowd him out.

Bastian Schweinsteiger, his scourge during Germany's 4-0 quarter-final win in 2010, was a constant irritant, and on the two occasions when Messi managed to burst free in the first half, he could not pick out a team-mate.

The moment thousands of Argentines in the Maracana had been waiting for arrived a minute into the second half when Messi was released by Lucas Biglia, but he overcooked his shot, rattling it wide of the right-hand past.

An injury-time free-kick from 30 yards offered one last improbable chance, but he hooked it over the bar.

Where Maradona broke down in tears after Argentina lost to West Germany in the 1990 final, Messi looked merely numb. He will be 31 by the next World Cup and may never get a better chance to win it.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Messi one step from undisputed greatness

RIO DE JANEIRO - Argentina's Lionel Messi will never have a better opportunity to prove he is one of the greatest players of all time than in Sunday's World Cup final against Germany.

For all the breath-taking goals and teeming towers of silverware he has accumulated with Barcelona, it is in the World Cup final that the true greats confirm their legacies.

From a 17-year-old Pele in 1958 to Andres Iniesta in 2010, via Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, and Ronaldo, football's biggest personalities have bent the sport's biggest occasion to their will.

Messi's record-breaking brilliance over the last six seasons at Camp Nou cannot be understated, but until he wins the World Cup, he will never fully stand the comparisons.

In the words of Roberto Rivellino, one of the stars of Brazil's 1970 World Cup-winning side: "If Argentina win, he'll be up there with Pele and Maradona, no doubt."

Maradona, in particular, was defined by his World Cup performances and at 27, Messi could not ask for a more perfect chance to emulate his predecessor in the sky-blue and white number 10 shirt.

- One-man show -

Maradona was almost marked out of the 1986 final by West Germany, only to create the winning goal for Jorge Burruchaga, but while he had already dominated the tournament, Messi needs a signature display.

Whereas Maradona scored decisive braces against England and Belgium in the knockout phase -- each featuring a memorable solo goal -- Messi has not added to the four goals he scored in the first round.

And while he remains Argentina's most important player, his performances have waned.

Decisive against Switzerland in the last 16, where he created Angel di Maria's extra-time winner, he showed flashes of brilliance against Belgium, but was a peripheral figure in the semi-final against the Netherlands.

His appearance against the Dutch took him to 92 caps, which is one more than Maradona obtained, and yet his achievements currently pale by comparison.

In his 91 appearances, Maradona played at four World Cups and carried Argentina to two finals, turning the 1986 tournament into his own one-man show.

In contrast, Messi, as Holland coach Louis van Gaal observed, "hasn't always pulled it off" at international level.

So should he drift through the final, as he did the semi-final, but still end up a champion, can he be said to have matched Maradona?

Judged against the lofty standards that Messi's talent demands, the trophy alone may not suffice.

- Sporting immortality -

Despite Germany's pedigree -- unequivocally demonstrated in their 7-1 annihilation of Brazil -- the conditions could otherwise scarcely be more favourable.

Messi is fully fit, wears the captain's armband, and is the creative hub of a team specifically calibrated to make him shine.

After Argentina laboured to beat Bosnia-Hercegovina in their first game, Messi successfully petitioned coach Alejandro Sabella to ditch his experiment with a 5-3-2 formation and revert to the 4-3-3 shape used during qualifying.

Sabella has also granted him the freedom to develop a new low-intensity style, whereby he ambles around the pitch at walking pace before suddenly and devastatingly sparking into life.

Both of Messi's previous World Cups ended at Germany's hands, with a penalty shootout defeat in the 2006 quarter-finals followed by a chastening 4-0 drubbing at the same stage four years later.

Personal vendettas, however, do not appear to motivate the softly spoken forward, who declared after winning his third Ballon d'Or in 2012 that all he wanted was for "people (to) remember my football".

His 354 goals in 425 games for Barcelona -- not to mention the three Champions League titles and six La Liga crowns, amongst other trophies -- have already made sure of that, but what is at stake on Sunday is undisputable sporting immortality.

As he wrote to his followers on Instagram after the penalty shootout victory over the Dutch: "We have one little step left."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Argentina beat Dutch in shootout to set up Germany final

RIO DE JANEIRO - Argentina reached their first World Cup final in 24 years on Wednesday, beating the Netherlands 4-2 on penalties after the first scoreless semi in the tournament's history, with old foes Germany awaiting them in Sunday's showpiece.

The match will be a repeat of the 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals, the first of which was won by Argentina before the then West Germany gained revenge four years later.

Argentina's win compounded the misery for hosts Brazil who were humiliated 7-1 by Germany on Tuesday before seeing their worst fears realized when their traditional rivals booked a place in the sport's biggest game at the Maracana on Sunday.

Midfielder Maxi Rodriguez scored the decisive penalty for Argentina after their goalkeeper Sergio Romero had saved spot kicks from Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder, triggering wild celebrations among Lionel Messi's triumphant team.

Brazil may have won the World Cup more than any other country, but the one they wanted most will now be played between two of their greatest foes, an unpalatable prospect for the mourning samba nation.

Wednesday's second semi-final in Sao Paulo could not have been more different than Tuesday's goalfest in Belo Horizonte but the sheer tension of the occasion had fans on the edge of their seats.

"I'm very happy because we reached the final and now we will see what we can do," said Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella. "We will give everything as usual, with humility, work and 100 percent effort."

Neither Argentina or the Netherlands created many chances in a dour game that was dominated by defense but ultimately came down to a battle of nerves when they finished deadlocked at 0-0 after 90 minutes of normal time and 30 minutes of extra time.

For players and fans, the tension was almost unbearable and it was the Dutch, who have played in three World Cup finals, including the last one in Johannesburg four years ago, but never won one, who fluffed their lines in the shootout.

It was also a second semi-final defeat on penalties for the Netherlands who suffered the same fate against Brazil in 1998.

"I didn't have the feeling in the second half that we would lose," said Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal.

"And when it comes to penalties you know it's a lottery. The boys did fantastically (well). Nobody had expected this."

The Dutch will play Brazil in the third-place playoff in Brasilia on Saturday as the recriminations into the host nation's limp exit gather pace.

Brazilian media savaged the team's performance with newspapers describing the Germany defeat as an "historic disgrace", "national humiliation", "eternal shame" and a "fiasco".

A lot of the blame was directed at Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, whose future is now the source of wide speculation with Tite, Muricy Ramalho and Vanderlei Luxemburgo looming as his possible successor.

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff took to social media to express her disappointment to a country reeling from the loss after spending more than $11 billion on hosting the tournament.

"I'm immensely sorry for all of us, our fans and players," she tweeted. "But let's not let ourselves give up. Brazil, get up, dust yourself off and bounce back."

Riot police, who had been deployed at fan sites around the country to handle any violent outbreaks, had a quiet night with most fans too traumatized by the manner of defeat to revolt.

An Argentine journalist was killed in Sao Paulo early on Wednesday morning when his taxi was hit by a stolen car fleeing police. He was the second Argentine reporter to die in a car wreck while covering the World Cup.

The mood in Germany could not have been more different with more than 32 million people watching their country's victory on television, a record rating which accounted for an audience market share of almost 88 percent.

Hundreds of thousands of Germans watched the match from the avenue leading to the Brandenburg Gate and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to attend the final.

Off the field, FIFA suspended the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) because of government interference.

A regional court in Nigeria last week ordered the sacking of the existing NFF executive after the team's performance at the World Cup, where they were eliminated by France in the second round.

The court appointed a new administrator to run the game in the populous west African nation but FIFA warned Nigeria they would be banned from competing internationally unless the old leadership was restored to power.

"The suspension will be lifted once the court actions have been withdrawn and the properly elected NFF Executive Committee, the NFF general assembly and the NFF administration are able to work without any interference in their affairs," FIFA said.

(Editing by Ed Osmond and Nigel Hunt)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com