Lionel Messi’s World Cup fairytale ends with pitiful Argentina as final villains

Lionel Messi could not help Argentina defend their World Cup trophy. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters Playing on the grandest stage in sport for the last time, Lionel Messi seemed almost certain to provide one last memorable moment in this World Cup final. Yet as the sun ducked behind the west stand of New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, it became clearer and clearer that Argentina had lost the magic they had carried through this tournament. And as Spain gradually wrested control, one was left to confront reality: Messi, and Argentina, had finally run out of time, having long since given in to their worst instincts in a 1-0 defeat . This final presented a stark contrast to the Argentina – and Messi – we observed in every other match of the tournament. Almost without exception, La Albiceleste have been the tournament’s most entertaining team, not so much for how they’ve scored their goals but for when they’ve scored them, offering a masterclass in dramatic timing. Twice they were nearly eliminated by badly outmatched opponents, results that only galvanized them. Related: Patience beats overreliance on Messi: how the final was won and lost Finals are frequently forgettable matches that fail to entertain but even by that lowly standard the pacing of things felt dreadful. Spain were suffocating defensively and – after a forgettable first half – finally worked their way into things in the second 45, eventually breaking through in extra time, quite expectedly. Argentina? They became the first team in the near century-long history of the tournament to fail to record a shot in regular time of a World Cup final. Even when handed an additional half an hour, they never threatened. And Messi? Until this final, he had presented observers with one of the rarest opportunities in professional sport: a chance to witness greatness free of stakes, entirely devoid of any real pressure to perform. At 39, Messi has done his time and nobody could criticize his collection of hardware – as an individual or as part of a club or country. This defeat does nothing to sully a spotless legacy; a win would have only strengthened his claim as the greatest player in the history of the sport. To some Argentinians, the victory against England in their semi-final likely carries nearly as much weight as a victory in the final would have. Yet it has to be said: Messi was rarely involved in this match, a far cry from the player who has sometimes carried his team this summer. Much of this, of course, is down to a Spain masterclass in defending. That alone is not always enough to contain the diminutive Argentina captain. But give Spain their due: they badly outclassed Argentina in every way, neutralizing even Messi. By the end Argentina had become what so many observers pegged them to be in the first place, sometimes unfairly: underhanded, dirty and desperate. Time has almost always been irrelevant to Messi on the field, because he so frequently bends it to his liking to elude those who defend him. The manner in which he performs at age 39 has a similar effect, tearing open a rift in time itself and transporting observers back to his glory days at Barcelona and elsewhere. Time itself has not passed him by as much as he’s marched alongside it, occasionally trailing behind a step or two but always eventually pulling even with it again. Yet now we are left to face the unmistakable reality that Messi is done, with the World Cup at least – this is, it’s worth noting, what was said after he led Argentina to their first World Cup in nearly four decades in 2022 and what was assumed in 2016, when Messi briefly retired from the national team after Argentina’s defeat in the Copa América final. Back then, the dialogue surrounding this player was that he would never play for Argentina the way he did for Barcelona, or even rumblings that Messi himself wasn’t sufficiently Argentinian, having spent so much of his life in Spain. Both arguments feel laughable 10 years later. It remains to be seen how Argentina’s performance will be perceived back home, where expectations were understandably high. The head coach, Lionel Scaloni, and even Messi had spoken at length before the final about how much they had already achieved. This final result, they implied, would do little to sully that sense of accomplishment. This was, of course, before they took the field and more or less destroyed the game. Scaloni’s legacy, like Messi’s, was secure before this final, the coach having brought Argentina a third World Cup and a pair of Copa América titles, but this was a lost opportunity to solidify it. Two things can coexist: Scaloni is almost without question Argentina’s greatest coach, and this was one of his worst results and performances. What feels much more real, though, is a sense of loss and disappointment after this pitiful final performance, which provided Argentina – and Messi – with a perfect opportunity to put the finishing touches on their fairytale. Instead, they turned from hero to villain – and needlessly so.