It has been a huge question discussed within the football world ad nauseam for years now: Can Lionel Messi lead Argentina to the World Cup?
Messi has been hailed as the greatest of all time – surpassing even his compatriot, the legendary Diego Armando Maradona. But while Maradona led the Albiceleste to two World Cup titles, Messi has fallen short of winning the big one, most notably in 2014.
This World Cup 2022 will likely be Messi’s last chance to bring the title of world champions back to his home country, and as the World Cup 2022 odds can attest, he has quite a good shot.
Read on below as SBOTOP dives deep into the reasons why Lionel Messi and Argentina might just win World Cup 2022.
The right manager
Lionel Scaloni took charge in August 2018, succeeding Jorge Sampaoli as Argentina manager. Sampaoli, a Marcelo Bielsa disciple, instilled a similar high-pressing system with Chile and led them to the 2015 Copa America title, overcoming Argentina in the final. But that type of system just didn’t work for Argentina, which was evident in their disappointing World Cup 2018 campaign.
Scaloni seemed like a placeholder before Argentina could get a big name in the position. But as time wore on, Scaloni proved himself to be worthy of the job. It all culminated in the summer of 2021, when Scaloni’s side beat Brazil in the Copa America final to deliver Argentina’s first major title in nearly 30 years.
Scaloni is no tactical mastermind; he just keeps things simple. But that simplicity has worked, as evidenced by the fact that Scaloni has the fourth-best point-per-game average out of any Argentina manager in history.
After four years in charge, Scaloni has shown himself to be the right man to lead Argentina. He has crafted a settled and unified squad that has their unique identity. And crucially, it doesn’t all revolve around Messi.
The right supporting pieces
In past World Cups, Argentina have looked like a broken side. The defence – which usually included two defensive midfielders – were on one side, while the attack – led by Messi – were on the other. What resulted was a disjointed mess that often saw Messi having to drop deeper in midfield and try to stitch everything together himself.
But those days seem to be a thing of the past. This Argentina side now has a more cohesive structure to it. It helps that they have young and talented midfielders – Leandro Paredes, Giovani Lo Celso, Rodrigo De Paul – who have the ability and are empowered to progress the ball, but are also willing and able to put in a shift in defence.
That ability to defend and cover a lot of ground is obviously crucial with Messi not exactly carrying his weight on that end of the pitch. But the fact that they are also able to distribute the ball and take that load off of Messi’s shoulders is massive.
Meanwhile, Lautaro Martinez might be the perfect strike partner Messi has ever had. While the likes of Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain were arguably better overall goalscorers than Lautaro, the Inter Milan man is more athletic and mobile. He is also a more willing runner of the channels, which helps open up more space for Messi and others.
With Lautaro as Messi’s strike partner, Messi has someone who can do the tireless running and other dirty work, while at the same time have the quality to be the clinical striker who can make some World Cup 2022 highlights.
With these pieces finally put in place, Messi might be in the best position to succeed while playing for the national team in his illustrious career.
The right Messi
So the question now becomes, “Is a 35-year-old Messi still capable of maximising all of these pieces and leading Argentina to the top?” The evidence suggests that he is.
Messi has been in phenomenal form for his country. He was named co-player of the tournament with Neymar in last year’s Copa America. He’s scored nine goals in his last three games (albeit easy friendlies) and had seven goals in the World Cup qualifiers.
And his club form with PSG has also been quite encouraging. At the time of this writing, Messi has already bagged 12 goals and 13 assists in 16 games in all competitions for the French champions and has been exceptional in the Champions League as well.
Messi may be older now at age 35, but he’s also wiser. He now knows his limitations and has experienced his share of failures, so unlike previous tournaments when he felt he had to do things all on his own, he will presumably learn his lesson and defer more to his teammates, who are quite capable of stepping up on the big stage.
So this is shaping up to be a massive World Cup for Messi and Argentina. They have all the tools to be top contenders for the title, but as they have found out in the past, that is hardly a guarantee of success. Regardless, this is perhaps the best Argentina setup Messi could ever hope for as he makes one last run at winning the World Cup.
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