Mea Culpa, Messi

Why I Underestimated Argentina

How daft do you have to be to doubt the reigning World Cup Champions and the greatest player of all time? Great question. I’ve been asking myself that on a daily–nay–hourly basis for the last few weeks. Now, don’t get it twisted, I ranked Argentina 6th in my World Cup preview piece, but regardless of the outcome of this tournament, they’ve already blown my expectations out of the water.

I’m not afraid to take accountability, so I’ve ranked my excuses key oversights in reverse order for your reading pleasure.

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5.) I am a Fool

Let’s get the easy one out of the way shall we? I am an idiot and you should laugh at me. I had the privilege of watching the greatest player of all time emerge and dominate throughout his entire storied career and still I doubted.

4.) No Passengers

It’s blasphemy to call the GOAT a passenger, but it is a well-documented fact that Messi now offers nothing on the defensive side of the game. Out of 618 outfield players with 90+ minutes played at the World Cup so far, Messi ranks dead last in kilometers covered per 90’ (8.1 km). Paris Saint-Germain, 2025 and 2026 Champions League winners, only claimed the biggest prize in club football after begrudgingly moving on from their Galactico era, which included Neymar, Mbappe, and yes, Messi. The issue with that team was balance, not Messi, but the fact remains that it is exceedingly difficult to win football matches without every player contributing in all phases of play. You need only look to Portugal to see the limitations of playing with a striker whose mobility is limited and whose defensive work rate is nonexistent.

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3.) Major League Messi

Yes, I know I’m an American. Furthermore, I know that Major League Soccer has improved dramatically in the last decade. Beckham first put MLS on the map and Messi has legitimized it, but until MLS embraces the stakes (and entertainment multiplier) of promotion and relegation, I won’t be able to fully buy in. I could wax lyrical about why promotion and relegation solves the quintessentially American ‘the regular season doesn’t matter’ issue, but I’ll save that for another day. Major League Soccer is still where many European legends come for their retirement tour, so why shouldn’t this be any different? Having shut myself off from Inter Miami’s Messi mania, I began to passively form a reasonable albeit faulty assumption: he’s over the hill. To be honest, I’m not even sure that’s inaccurate, but what I failed to realize was how little of his game is predicated on athleticism and how much margin he had to regress before approaching the realm of mortals.

2.) The Supporting Cast

The Argentina team has been just absolutely superb. And making up that team have been individuals who for one reason or another have outperformed my expectations for them; Rodrigo De Paul, Thiago Almada, & Facundo Medina in particular have blown me away. Alongside an cast of characters who were already well-established in the side such as Christian Romero, Lisandro Martínez, Alexis MacAllister, Enzo Fernández, & Lautaro Martínez who have been faultless through their first three World Cup matches despite having underwhelming seasons for their club teams. Even more aggrieved than Lionel Messi is his supporting cast which, while certainly not the most talented on display, has been arguably the best team in the entire tournament.

1.) The Cult of Messi

Now this might appear a bit sensationalist. But unlike most cult-leaders, Lionel Messi is the real deal and he does not want to sleep with your wife. Since establishing himself at Barcelona, Argentina has always revered Messi; however, as his 30’s crept on, his La Selección teammates have developed a joyful relationship with suffering in service to their hero. The defensive workrate. The tackling. The selflessness. In service to their country certainly, but with the elevated stakes that could only take shape in a modern, toxic GOAT measuring era.

And his teammates did their part in delivering Messi the greatest prize in World Football. My error was not to believe that the Cult of Messi had lost their faith, but that having already arrived in the Promised Land, they would allow a measure of complacency to creep in. By god was I wrong. Top to bottom, Argentina have been sharp, hungry, & selfless—they work for one another, do not bite off more than they can chew, and most of all, they optimize their captain.

Argentina’s player operate with an unquantifiable amount of thoughtfulness from back to front which doesn’t put their teammates into trouble. Messi drifts and strolls as his teammates progress the ball until—well, you know the rest. There’s still no one more dangerous to see running towards your box with the ball at his feet, and this Argentina side is set up to win the ball and keep it until Messi finds space.

Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina has never been the most talented team around, but the ethos he’s cultivated in the service of Messi is a magnificent sight. They may not win a second-straight World Cup, but they’ve arrived in North America firing on all cylinders. At the time of writing, it looks as though the only thing that can stop Argentina from defending their title will be a supercharged Les Bleus team that is overwhelmed with world-class talent. Regardless of how far Argentina go in the World Cup, it’s been an absolute joy to watch them go about their business.

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