The most frequently mentioned word in Argentina right now is ‘bicampeonato’ (back-to-back World Cup championship).
But the question everybody is thinking, and nobody wants to mention, is ‘what will we do when Messi retires’?
Every new match the national team plays in the World Cup – such as the one against Egypt on Tuesday – is another step towards glory, a chance to achieve a feat only two other countries have managed (Italy in 1934 and 1938; Brazil in 1958 and 1962).
Yet, each match also brings us closer to the retirement of Argentine football’s greatest icon: the national team captain, Messi.
His goals in this tournament (seven), his new records (playing his sixth World Cup, scoring in eight consecutive World Cup matches), and dramatic encounters like the game against Cape Verde, have kept the country focused solely on the present moment.
To top it off, Messi is playing as if he were 25, not 39 years old.
But we all know that the man who led us to a World Cup victory (Qatar 2022) and two Copa America titles (Brazil 2021 and the United States 2024) is dancing his final tango in the albiceleste jersey.
So, every victory represents progress in the tournament but also one more opportunity to enjoy the man who managed to reach the same heights as Diego Maradona in our pantheon of football gods.
Interestingly, many Argentine sports journalists have criticised the fact that, in this World Cup, the national team has once again become “Messi-dependent”.
One of the great achievements attributed to manager Lionel Scaloni was being the first coach to build a team that complemented Messi rather than relying on him.
In the years prior to Scaloni’s arrival, the national team had endured a string of heartbreaks – the 2014 World Cup final loss in Brazil and two Copa America defeats on penalties in the final (Chile 2015 and the United States 2016) – but that changed under the current manager.
Now, only four of the 11 goals Argentina have scored in the United States were not netted by Messi; the two main strikers – Lautaro Martinez and Julian Alvarez – seem to play merely as providers for the great captain, and the creative midfielders who stepped up in previous tournaments – Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister – seem more focused on defending their own goal than on attacking the opponent’s.
As in a personal relationship, it seems that the closer we come to seeing a loved one leave, the more we need them.
