Has Lionel Messi failed Argentina?
Argentina are on the verge of not qualifying for the 2018 World Cup and Lionel Messi demands they improve drastically.
Argentina skipper Lionel Messi has said if his side are to qualify for the 2018 World Cup then they need to improve significantly after Brazil thrash the 2016 Copa America runner-up.
Man in form Philippe Coutinho, Neymar and Paulinho inspired the home side to a historic for Brazil against fierce rivals Argentina in Belo Horizonte.
Argentina loss sees them in sixth in a 10-team standings, with the top four punching their tickets for the tournament in Russia, while Brazil sits on top of the CONMEBOL qualifying by a point.
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The 29-year-old told Ole newspaper: “We need to change our mental approach. If one is not mentally well then the legs don’t respond.
“We need to change this s—ty situation. We didn’t expect this result. It could have even been worse. We weren’t able to react.
“We must improve a lot. We can’t repeat what we’ve been doing up to now because we will not come out of this situation. We still depend on ourselves but we cannot give away points, especially at home. We need a drastic change.”
Does Argentina need a drastic change or does Messi needs to take his game up a notch to avoid being left out of the World Cup in 2018?
Whatever the case may be, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner is having another superb campaign at Barcelona, so why can’t he lead his national team to glory?
Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest footballer of his generation, but he has been unsuccessful leading his country to major tournament victory.
A player who many considers to be the best all-time just doesn’t produce without a perfect environment surrounding him. Why has Messi been so successful with Barcelona over the years? Well the answer to that question is simple, he has played and continues to play with world-class talents such as Ronaldhino, Samuel E’too, Xavi, Inesta, Neymar and Luis Suarez, just to name a few.
Meanwhile in Argentina, he has Angel Di Maria, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, star in the making Paulo Dybala and Javier Mascherano all at his disposal but still trophy-less with La Albiceleste.
Back in June Messi, the five-time FIFA Player of the Year announced his international career was over, following the Copa America defeat to Chile.
Argentina have not won a major trophy since the 1993 Copa America and Messi’s only achievements are gold at the 2008 Olympics and victory in the 2005 FIFA Under-20s World Cup.
Here are Messi’s major international tournament results.
2006 World Cup (quarter-finals)
2007 Copa America (runners-up)
2010 World Cup (quarter-finals)
2011 Copa America (quarter-finals)
2014 World Cup (runners-up)
2015 Copa America (runners-up)
2016 Copa America (runners-up)
Twice the five-time Ballon d’Or winner had reached the Copa America showpiece before, but he has never won it.
After the 2016 Copa America disappointment, where Chile won the final with a penalty shoot-out victory over Argentina, this time the Argentina captain missed his spot-kick and then quit.
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His sudden retirement following the Chile loss came as a shock to the football world, but returned in August to face Uruguay and Venezuela.
“I see that there are a lot of problems in Argentina football and I don’t want to create more,” said Messi.
“I don’t want to cause harm, on the contrary, my goal was to help in any way I could.”
It’s vital the Argentina’s all-time leading goal scorer with 56 in 115 appearances gather his emotions and lead his country as they’re on the brink of not qualifying for 2018 Russia tournament.