WORLD CUP 2014: LEO MESSI AND THE LAST MISSING TROPHY

In yesterday's matches at World Cup 2014 Argentina and Nigeria qualified to next round from group F, and France and Switzerland from group E. Already eliminated Bosnia prevented Iran from qualification by beating them by the score of 3:1 whereas in the other match of this group Argentina edged Nigeria 3:2. This match has been a showcase for Leo Messi who gave Argentina early lead by pouncing on a rebound and directing his fierce shot under the roof of Nigerian goal. Argentina did not enjoy the lead for too long as young Nigerian Musa has scored from left side of the penalty area even a more beautiful goal then Leo Messi. Eventually, Leo Messi responded in second half with a beautiful free kick which found Nigerian goalkeeper Enyama frozen on the goal line. Young Musa once again equalized the score with another well taken goal, to which Argentina responded with the winning goal headed from a corner by left-back Rojo. After that goal Messi has been taken off the pitch and Argentina comfortably preserved their lead to the end. As I have been saying all along since January of this year, Leo Messi has sacrificed the Barcelona club season in La Liga and UEFA Champions League just to be ready for the World Cup. He already has won everything with FC Barcelona and was voted four times the best player in the world, yet he had to deal with accusations of not giving it all to the home country, Argentina. When at the end of last year he was sided by injuries, I have predicted that the break in the season will serve him well during the upcoming World Cup. Even though Messi came back from injury in January, 2014, he was playing until the end of the season for Barcelona not like Leo Messi we knew from the past. I voiced an opinion on various forums at football blogs in England (newspaper Guardian, etc.) that Messi sacrificed everything to win the World Cup, or at least to get to the final. Even though he is the greatest footballer in the history of the sport, various detractors did not want to recognize his greatness and were bringing in discussions Diego Maradona casus, claiming that he was able single-handedly to win one World Cup in 1986 with a weak Argentina team, and then to get back to the final in 1990 with even a weaker team. I repeated at football discussing forums on many occasions my theory that Leo Messi sacrificed everything with Barcelona this season just to lead Argentina to the final at the World Cup, yet my opponents in discussions were claiming that Messi is finished, that perhaps he wasn't that good, that Ronaldo is better, what of course made me respond with laughter for Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be put on the same level with Messi. Whereas Ronaldo is a an athletic type of footballer, runner and powerful shooter, though limited dribbler with a lot of unnecessary step overs, who achieved everything with hard-work, Leo Messi is a brilliant technical player who can dribble with ease and lightning speed, with a ball glued to his feet, through whole defenses and shoot unexpectedly or supply other players with brilliant passes or assists. Whereas Ronaldo is petulant and has big ego, and makes his teams weaker (look at Portugal national team or Real Madrid studded with best players for many seasons yet without success except for this season's Champions League) Leo Messi is a player with a vision, who constantly creates for the team and makes it better. When Ronaldo disappears in big games like Champions League final or major international tournaments (except for Portugal v. Sweden playoffs, however, because of his big ego Portugal didn't qualify directly and had to go through back door to the World Cup) Leo Messi scores huge goals for either Barcelona (all Champions League and La Liga successes) or Argentina (qualification to World Cup 2014 and the World Cup 2014 itself, where his goals decided each of the matches played by Argentina so far). When Ronaldo is a child who showcases his muscles and sulks when his teammates score big goals, Leo Messi is still a humble man who doesn't stop the world around when kicked or otherwise fouled (like Ronaldo does) but calmly walks away. Argentina is a long shot for the World Cup which is blessed with teams huge on talent like Germany, Netherlands, Colombia, France, or even Brazil (even if so far it did play poorly), but with Messi everything is possible. In next round Argentina will meet Switzerland, who beat yesterday Honduras 3:0 with the hat-trick hero Shaqiri from Bayern Munchen playing like on fire, whereas France, who drew Equador yesterday 0:0 and topped group E, will meet Nigeria, team playing better and better with each next game. Notwithstanding the valiant opponents, Argentina and France should advance.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney writing on various legal and community important topics. You can contact him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com