The significance of Messi to Argentina and the World Cup

Lionel Messi’s ability to take the occasion and make it his own in front of 88,000 spectators was more important than how he scored.

When Argentina plays there with Messi in the lineup, Lusail Stadium has to be a no-fly zone.

The calm of a late November evening disrupted with total disrespect by Argentina supporters celebrating a Messi goal in a must-win game would have been felt by passengers on any flights over the stadium when Messi scored.

All evening long, the gathering had been noisy. However, it’s possible that the razor-thin margin between Argentina’s survival and elimination helped to moderate the noise levels. Or maybe they were conserving their voices for Messi’s goal, confident in his ability to perform under pressure and that everything would go as planned.

Two days ago, I made a comparison between 60,000 jubilant Brazilian supporters and low-flying F16s, noting that the latter would likely prevail in a battle to determine which was the loudest.

On Saturday night, I was shown to be mistaken.

The stadium exploded when Messi scored. That was the time when sound waves might ignite, disdain everything around them, which at this point was just small pieces of nothing, and then take over the empty space.

That 7-1 result occurred in a semi-final eight years ago in Brazil. Argentina has been holding on this year. They were not just humiliated and faced an early World Cup elimination after the defeat to Saudi Arabia. during a group game.

Messi nevertheless scored. Once again, Argentina was daydreaming while on the field, in the stands, thousands of miles away in Buenos Aires, and a few of hours away in Rosario, where this little child is still remembered in locals’ recollections and painted on walls.

When asked if he was happy his side made it through the game or impressed with Messi, one Argentina supporter said, “How do you want me to respond that?”

“Messi is there. This is football. Messi was created for football so that he could come and honor it. He is Messi. I doubt I have much else to say. You saw his actions.