Lionel Messi on Monday night revealed the full depth of his anger and devastation at failing to crown his profession by winning Sunday’s World Cup final amid a bizarre row about him becoming awarded the tournament’s ‘golden ball’.
Just minutes right after Germany had beaten Argentina to turn out to be the 1st European nation to lift the Planet Cup on South American soil, a clearly distraught Messi was obliged to gather the person Fifa award for the best player of the competition.
The ‘golden ball’ decision was produced by Fifa’s supposedly specialist Technical Study Group but there was nevertheless common shock that it did not go to either Colombia’s James Rodriguez or a single of Germany’s new team of world champions. Messi said that the award meant “nothing” as he digested the price of missing a clear opportunity to win the Globe Cup for Argentina in the second half of Sunday’s final. There is a theory that Messi can never ever reach the similar elevated status in football as Pele or Maradona with out winning the Planet Cup and, provided that he will be in his thirties by the time of the tournament in Russia in 2018, his greatest likelihood may possibly now have passed.
“I’m quite hurt at not being capable to bring the Cup to Argentina,” Messi said. “I am very angry at the way we lost, so close to the penalties, in particular as we had the very best possibilities. I do not care about the ‘golden ball’. I am just upset by the wasted possibilities.
“We had the finest possibilities, with [Gonzalo] Higuain, mine and [Rodrigo] Palacios. We knew we could not dominate the game but we knew what we wanted to do.
“Right now I do not care nothing at all, not about my prize, practically nothing. I just wanted to lift the cup and bring it to Argentina. The discomfort is pretty good.
“I have been via numerous sad days with this group. This was our opportunity to adjust all that. We deserved far more. They had extra of the ball but the most effective possibilities had been ours.”
Maradona on Monday dismissed the ‘golden ball’ award to his compatriot as a “marketing program” although Fifa president Sepp Blatter even admitted that he did not anticipate Messi to win the prize. Fifa may possibly now modify how the award is judged. The other brief-listed players were Rodriguez, Neymar, Angel di Maria, Mats Hummels, Toni Kroos, Philipp Lahm, Javier Mascherano, Thomas Muller and Arjen Robben.
“Lio is worthy of all the praise – he is the ideal but when judges award you one thing you do not deserve to win, it’s unfair,” Maradona mentioned. “I saw it as I did and he was not the very best of the tournament. That need to have been James Rodriguez.
“I would give him [Messi] heaven if doable. But it’s not right when someone wins some thing that he shouldn’t have won just due to the fact of some marketing and advertising plan.”
The award made use of to be voted in conjunction with the media and that may be resumed after the fall-out this year. “There was a lengthy discussion,’’ a Fifa spokesman said. “The decision was by the technical study group. Possibly it will alter once again. Possibly it will not have so a lot weight given to the technical group. We’re open to suggestions. You can make your personal opinion on Messi.’’
Blatter stated: “Shall I be diplomatic or tell you the truth? Listen, I was myself a small bit shocked when I saw Messi coming up for the ‘golden ball’. But appear at the goals scored by Messi in the distinctive [group-stage] matches. They were decisive.’’
A different important controversy in Argentina is the half-time choice of manager Alejandro Sabella to substitute Ezequiel Lavezzi soon after the Paris St-Germain midfielder had been amongst the most effective players throughout the very first half. Sabella said that it had merely been tactical - mainly because he wanted to win the game in 90 minutes – but it was a bizarre modify at a time when Argentina had been developing the best chances.
“I don’t have an understanding of the substitution of Lavezzi – he was phenomenal down the wing,” stated Maradona. “Kun Aguero didn’t have the same impact. It was not his tournament.”
Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, was equally mystified by Sabella’s half-time techniques. “I would like to know later the explanation Lavezzi stayed in the dressing space,” Mourinho told Yahoo. “I only have to believe that it was for the reason that of some injury because in the initial half Argentina play with two lines of four. Messi could basically walk even though the team was in a defensive moment and when the group recovered the ball Messi had fresh legs and the energy to make the distinction and generate a lot. When Lavezzi was out, Sabella changed the program of the group.
“In this moment the group lost a lot of balance and Messi had to run a great deal a lot more than in the beginning trying to close some spaces.”
Mourinho was also vague when asked to say whether or not Messi belonged with Maradona and Pele in the pantheon of greats with out a World Cup win. “He is still a historical player, he is still a player for the history of world football, he doesn’t will need to be globe champion to be a historical player in particular in this last decade,” Mourinho stated.