Lionel Messi Fan

Argentina ’s 2010 World Cup qualifying game against Bolivia was definitely one of the most disappointing game ever in their history. They were defeated 6-1 on high ground, in a match were they were far from being at their best.

It all started when Marcelo Moreno’s strike beat the argentine keeper to put the ball at the back of the net in the 12th minute. Then 12 minutes later, Luis Oscar Gonzalez fired a shot from 30 yards to give Argentina an equalizer.

Moments later, Lionel Messi almost gave his side the lead, finding himself one-on-one with the goalie, but his poor shot didn’t result in anything satisfying for his coach Maradona.

Unfortunately, the Argentines weren’t able to stay in the game – a penalty converted by Joaquin Botero in the 33rd minute saw them trailing by two goals to one. Alex Da Rosa then added his name on the scoring sheet and Joaquin Botero went for a hat trick. Finally, four minutes from time, Didi Torrico killed off the visitor with another shot from long range; 6-2 the game ended in favor of Bolivia .

So, it was quite a disappointing result for argentine supporters, and mostly for Lionel Messi himself.

The Barcelona winger started the match playing up front with Tevez, but this time, his strong influence was really missing in the game as he failed to impress the crowd with an amazing display. He just wasn’t at his best…

“There is no excuse. I know if Messi had scored when the score was still 1-1, things would have been different.”

This is what the Argentina coach Diego Maradona had to say after the match.

Could it be that trough his statement, the manager was actually blaming his player for failing to give his side the lead when he was given the chance to do so?
Well, whatever he meant, it is clear that ‘form’ is one of the main issue in every player’s game, and Lionel Messi was obviously not in the best of shapes.
It was then the coach’s responsibility to select his side based on the performance, and not by focusing on the ‘names’.

Nonetheless, Bolivia ’s high altitude could also be referred to Argentina ’s poor display. Indeed, many of the goals in the match were from long range – this could then be related to the difficulty of running on high ground.

From a different point of view, one could put the blame on the argentine defense. In fact, it was trough Zanetti’s challenge on Alex Da Rosa that Bolivia was awarded a penalty. It was also after failing to mark the Bolivian forwards that the home side was capable to get a five points lead.

However, in the end, what is done, is done. Thus, as Lionel Messi thinks of improving his performance in his next game, he can also think of how important the loss’ impact can be on his run for the Best Player of the Year award.

Nevertheless, one could recall Portugal’s 6-2 defeat to Brazil, Real’s 4-0 crush at Anfield, etc… – such things does happen in football. Therefore, we must not forget that no matter how great a player can be, the help of his teammates is always what he needs to succeed, and this seems to be just the case for Lionel Messi: he is one player, among eleven others.

Written by Isaac Asante

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