Vincent. wrote:
ohsee wrote:
Vincenzo,
Why are you so eager to make excuses for the greatest player of all the greats since bread started to be sliced? When is he finally going to deliver? We are getting tired of this player who is better than Pele and Maradona, but never seems quite able to accomplish what they have done. I guess the next WC will finally really belong to Messi. Really.
By the way, why is no one mentioning the monster game Boateng had?
I am not defending him. There is no reason to defend a guy who took his team to the World Cup final. That is a huge achievement.
I merely answered the question about Messi walking and not running as he used to do? It was a question many asked towards the end of lass season when he was playing for Barcelona, and the answer is that he was advised by physiotherapists to limit his running because of his recent hamstring injuries.
Quote:
We are getting tired of this player who is better than Pele and Maradona, but never seems quite able to accomplish what they have done
As far as I am concerned, only people who don't understand how football works will demand that Messi or Maradona or Pele single-handedly win the World Cup. Football does not work that way. You need a team and good coaches. You also need luck.
As for Messi not achieving what Maradona and Pele have done, again I will say football is not mathematics. There are many things that Messi has achieved at club level that Maradona did not. How many league titles did Maradona win? How many continental European titles did Maradona win? How many world youth titles did Maradona win? How many Golden Balls did Maradona win? This is not to say that Messi is better than Maradona or vice versa, it simply illustrates the fact that football is a team game. No single player can single-handedly achieve anything in football. You need a strong supporting cast and you need luck.
It is ridiculous to demand that Messi win the World Cup. It does not happen than way. You guys seem to be suggesting that if Higuain or Palacio had taken their chances yesterday, then Messi would suddenly have reached Maradona's level, but he is not quite there because those chances were not taken? That is, if his team-mates had had better luck in front of goal, then Messi would suddenly have been elevated to a new level even though he had absolutely nothing to do with whether those guys scored or not, even though he had absolutely no control over whether the keeper would have produced a massive save? You are suggesting that Messi would have been elevated to Maradona's level if Goetze had blown that chance or if goalkeeper Romero had saved his shot or if Zabaleta had prevented Schuerrle from crossing to Goetze in the first place when Messi actually had no control over any of those situations? This illustrates the ridiculousness of this debate.
Vincent.
first you deny that you are making excuses for Messi, then you go about making more? Great players are judged on what they accomplish on the highest stages of all. If you can only accomplish great things with one star-studded team, you are not a great player.
Messi is clearly not a great player at the level of Maradona or Pele. Those players "take the game by the scruff of the neck" as in the old cliche, and do something that wins games.
Messi seems to lack the heart of a Maradona, or the combination of abilities and heart of a Pele (yes, Pele had more abilities than Messi) In the final of the 1986 WC, the Germans also tried to mark Maradona out of the game. He still was able to set up the winning goal with a brilliant pass to Burruchaga. Italy set up its defense to stop Pele, but can you really stop a person who can outjump everybody, and heads the ball with the velocity of a bullet fired from a sniper's rifle? A person who is determined to win, who, when he cannot score, pulls defenses this way and that to give teammates good scoring chances?
Messi gave up yesterday, demoralized that he could not do anything against the well-organized German defense. Did you see how he hung his head in shame at the end? He knew he failed again, knew that it was a matter of intestinal fortitude, of the will to drive his team forward and simply never surrender. Useless surrender monkey Messi.
It had nothing to do with instructions from a doctor; this is the final of the World Cup for God's sakes, this is when you say, "Na die today, instead wey we go lose, make I kill myself for field." Did Messi do that? He just sulked around the field like a petulant child, perhaps wondering where Xavi was to pass him the ball, or Iniesta to open spaces for him. Sheesh.
From now on, enough of the endless talk about this single team wonder, the supposed GOAT who would prove it beyond doubt at this World Cup. He has had three world cups to do it and has been a flop at all three. Three strikes, you are out!
When did stating the facts and answering a specific question about a player's limited running become excuses? I was merely explaining how absurd it is to expect an individual to just wave a magic wand and win a team game on his own. I was explaining the endless variables involved in a single match and pointing out the absurdity of expecting a single person to control all those variables.
Messi gave up yesterday, demoralized that he could not do anything against the well-organized German defense. Did you see how he hung his head in shame at the end? He knew he failed again, knew that it was a matter of intestinal fortitude, of the will to drive his team forward and simply never surrender. Useless surrender monkey Messi.
You managed to decode all these just by looking t Messi on your TV? What about all the other Argentina players who were dejected or crying after the match? Were they also crying in shame or were they surrender monkeys? Basically, you are saying that all the players and teams that did not win this competition "surrendered."
Anyway, I think I agree with you: Messi is a "failure," he "hanged his head in shame." He is a "surrender monkey" who surrendered when he could easily have dribbled the ball past everybody to 5-6 goals against Germany's amateurs like they do in Fantasy Football or table soccer. What a disgrace of a player!
Meanwhile, the "surrender monkeys" were given a hero's welcome by massive crowds lining the streets of Buenos Aires and greeted by the president of Argentina. I wish we had such "surrender monkeys" in Nigeria.