It is over!!! The biggest football show on earth is over and out. The decisive goal has been scored and the cup has been handed over to his rightful owners. The winners happy, the audience happy, the fans happy, the coach happy, the winning nation happy and FIFA happy, we are all happy.... Oh no wait there is surely one person who is not happy and he did openly show what he felt like yesterday. And he did show that to even a biljoen of people what he felt like. Messi wasn't (and I doubt that he is already in a different state of mind) happy when he saw those Germans jumping up and down, tears of joy running down their cheeks, hugging their girlfriends, wives or children, getting a pat on the shoulder of their coach.... Messi was dying out there on the mythical grass of Maracana.
It was so clearly to see what the number 10 was going through. One look and you just saw that the phenomenal football player felt out of place. The whole team of Argentina must have felt the same and I guess if they woudl have given the choice that they would have rather made a run for the showers and take the first plane out of Brazil instead of having to hang around for the honors. You don't wish to be there and having to face the glory of your opponent. It seems almost like torture. Body language after a victory can tell so much more then words and Messi his communication wasn't hard to decode.
Now, I am not a fan of Messi. Sorry boys, I am free to make up my own mind about who I consider a a great football player. Still, Messi is a genius football player and that won't change even after yesterday's game. The thing is that all of this happened during that one game that was going to make him immortal. And that perhaps makes it even worse for him to deal with it. Many envy him and it are not just fans who consider him a child of the Gods. He has got it all: the technique, the passion, the drive, the inteligence, the talent, the speed, the panache.... Messi is unique and there is no doubt about it... Most football players who were active over the last 4 weeks in Brazil seem to compare themselves with that Argentinian. Many show great respect to him. Most teams even have to put their whole defense on that 169 cm tall player. He is decisive and all it takes is leaving a tiny hole in your defense and suddenly he is there and he creates your biggest nightmare ever. No mercy and no compassion. Messi can score or assist when nobody has even thaught about it. He is the devil in disguise but also the redeemer.
The thing is that yesterday I wondered what was going on in his head while he stood there overlooking the battlefield? If he is ever going to write an autobiography then I will even sign up for pre-order it because I want to find out what Lionel was thinking while the world honored Germany. That the guy obvious did not care about that other award he was given (many even thaught that is seemed that FIFA wanted him not to go home emtyhanded) was not hard to see. Star goallie Neuer even seemed to feel a bit out of place when he saw Messi standing around and clearly showing dissapointment.
Messi has told the world that he did think Argentina did deserve to win that cup. He did express his feelings about what he thinks about being awarded the Golden Bal. The Flea told the world that he feels defeated. DEFEAT and MESSI!!! Two words that surely not rhyme in one sentence. This football player seems not equipped for loosing. He is a winner and the world has granted him the biggest stage in the world to show off his qualities: a football field. Last friday I did ran into him while grocery shopping and the bag of crisps with salsa taste with his face printed on it I gladly devoured while seeing the Germans scoring 7 goals against the home nation. He is everywhere and very hard to ignore when it comes down to winning. We all want to have a piece of Messi. We want to share the joy, the happiness, the profit and the victory..... There is only one thing that we might have forgotten that we all have to master as well and that is defeat and this includes Messi.
Yesterday Messi met up with the less fun part of the game he plays so masterly. Many have lost a game in the last four weeks. Many brothers in arms out there who will gladly share his feeling. Not hard. But there is something that makes Messi even different in defeat. He suffers in a very profound way that touches many. Like he is tortured. He suddenly realises that he missed a chance of life time and that he tonight was perhaps not the chosen one. One look at Götze must have told him what he might have tried to push out of his minds for years that is that all it takes is a split second and a tiny hole in the defense. Nothing more, nothing less.
Last night Lionel Messi in Rio found out that loosing big is part of life and that you don't get to choose your defeats. I was dissapointed in Messi and this because yesterday he did miss his chance to show me that he can be humble in defeat. But then it wasn't fair on him that the millions of cameras only zoomed into him. I mean you win and loose as a team in this game. Especially at this stage of the tournement. Well, yesterday the world even put Messi under a microscope to dissect him when he had to walk up those stairs to shake the hands of Sepp Blatter and co. It felt wrong, it felt out of tune and no it wasn't something that was orchesterated by FIFA.
Perhaps it was the perfect stage, I am even tempted to say that Shakespeare would have enjoyed this setting tremendously, to see how the greatest football player of a generation would pull this one off. In the shadow of the statue of Cristo Redentor Messi had to face his greatest challenge ever: being defeated at the brink of writing history. Messi had signed up for an appointment with the history books. He was dressed the part (golden number 10) and he had done his share of the running (Messi rather takes strolls over the field but he does it with style and then he takes off with the speed of a rocket, I call that 'Messi'-running), assists, goals... Messi was ready... But so was Götze. Ask Löw, the coach who ressembles a Lego-figurine, who had whispered into the ears of his wonder boy with the shirt number 19:'OK, show the world you are better than Messi and can decide the World Cup.' Words can give you wings. So a 22 year old midfielder of Bayern München has shown Messi that anyone at anytime can have his moment of glory. Even if this means that he is going to rain on your parade.
So, Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini you did yesterday make very cleary what you did think about not meeting up with destiny. That was very obvious to see and to feel. Because if you manage to stand still when they play 'Happy' by Pharell Williams then you surely need a hug. Just do me one big favor hold up your head and shoulders (and I am not only talking about that shampoo you promote) high in the weeks to come. You are still Messi and you will mess around with many to come but yesterday many must have thaught:'Gott sei Dank for Götze! Messi is human after all!'
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