A giant statue of Lionel Messi stands in the town of Cutral Có, Argentina, in the Patagonian desert.SARAH PABST/The New York Times
One of the offbeat, lead-in stories to this World Cup involved the unveiling of an eight-storey statue of Lionel Messi overlooking a remote Argentine town in the Patagonian desert.
Meant to represent Messi’s World Cup victory four years ago – kneeling, hand extended – it looks more like a guy in the midst of celebrating finding his car keys under the couch.
It’s a textbook folly, but nobody wanted to say that because everyone gets it. If you’re going to build a quasi-religious shrine to some living person not yet 40, this is probably the guy. Still, weird.
After Tuesday, everyone in Argentina will have one additional question for the sculptor – can you make it a little bigger?
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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’s fun, but everyone now accepts that the Argentine is the greatest ever. All you need to come to that conclusion is to have seen him in his prime.
But great artists aren’t 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.
Part of its brilliance was the long lead-in. Famously, Messi doesn’t 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’d noticed him otherwise.
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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’t just on. It was almost done. Then Messi awakened.
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’s standing in some dangerous position alone, about to push the knife in.
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
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.
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.
The ball came to him poked off a teammate’s 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 – you could actually see him slowing it in order to increase accuracy – and shinned it into the goal.
The game wasn’t won until Enzo Fernandez’s winning goal 10 minutes later, but though he had no part in it, Messi made that happen, too. He’d convinced the Egyptians that no matter what they did, they were losing in the end. Because how do you beat this guy when he’s decided to win? Experience suggests it’s not possible.
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.
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This is what separates great players from icons – great ones beat you with their ability; iconic ones beat you with their ability multiplied by their reputations.
Afterward, Messi wept repeatedly. He’d 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’s teammates got so carried away they threw him in the air for a bit, nearly dropping him in the process.
Argentina is already mourning Messi’s loss. That’s the only way to explain the extreme reaction to a round of 16 win, no matter how great, by the defending champions. Tuesday’s close call forced them to get right up close with the idea that this guy won’t be around forever.
Messi hasn’t 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.
With the match won and Messi the hero again, his teammates threw him in the air in celebration.Erik S. Lesser/The Associated Press
You can see him reacting less and thinking more, mainly because his reaction time has gone from uncanny to merely superhuman. Now you can’t be sure how he’s 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.
In a perfect world, Messi’s 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’d never quit that job either. But there are only two ways to go out internationally when you’re in his position.
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’t retire from football. Football retired him.
Then there’s 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.
There’s a reason why one of those two great rivals is more highly regarded than the other, and that’s it. If you have a chance to say goodbye while people remember you’re at your peak, take it.
Messi is still at his best in America right now. He doesn’t have to leave once it’s over. No one will want him to. Which is why it’s the perfect time to go.
Canada's historic World Cup run is over. Ask us your questions
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’s showing and where the team goes from here. Submit your questions in the box below or e-mail us at audience@globeandmail.com.