THE JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF MESSI'S ARGENTINA DARKNESS / GIO LO CELSO: THE CONDUIT TO AN ARGENTINA TITLE?

            

GIO LO CELSO:
THE MAN TO UNBURDEN & UNLEASH LIONEL MESSI???


GIO LO CELSO v NICARAGUA 
-1 assist
-1 UDGC 
-4 key passes 
-assisted Mathias Suarez with a shot off of the post 

             Has Argentina finally found the man who could open Le Albiceleste's sizzling forward attack and finally bring the end product the Argentina setup has been missing since the days of Riquelme?????
            If you check which Argentine has the most assists in the last international tournaments since 2007 (we're counting 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2016 Copa Americas and 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups) the answer is going to be the man who's also scored the most goals: Lionel Messi (2nd is Riquelme with 4 and he only played in 1 tournament that we're counting in that list).

MESSI: A TOURNAMENT HISTORY COMPARED 
           He was and still is having to do it all:
over that time he has posted an astounding 5 multi-assist matches in those tournaments (2 vs USA and 2 vs Venezuela in 2016, 2 vs France in 2018, 2 vs Costa Rica in 2011, and 3 vs Paraguay in 2015) and this is surrounded by a litany of attacking talent over those years such as Hernan Crespo, Carlos Tevez, Di Maria, Higuain, Aguero, Lavezzi, Juan Sebastian Veron and Ever Banega and from that list, only 3 of those players posted  2 assists in a single tournament during that time (an even more damning statistic of the current Argentina corps: Angel Di Maria has never registered a single World Cup assist in 3 tournaments, although his shot off of the post was rebounded directly by Lionel Messi vs Nigeria in the 2014 World Cup to Di Maria's credit...still, it's not Di Maria picking Messi out in open play).
        It was down to the Barca legend's goals and creation that Argentina stormed through to the final in 4 of those tournaments, with Messi scoring 4 goals and leading the 2014 FIFA World Cup in chances created by a wide margin while only getting 1 official assist thanks to his teammates' awful finishing; accomplishing exactly the same records and feats in the 2010 FIFA World Cup (1 assist, leader in chances created) but having to endure horrendous open-goal misses by Higuain and the entire lot of the Argentine attack after wondrous, phenomenal play by the #10 often becoming lasting, defining images of Argentina's Messi-era bad luck and even worse performances (up to this point). 
             Due to this over reliance on Leo's creation and finishing, Argentina's attack was always going to look toothless, confused and constantly insecure using Messi as midfielder, orchestrator, finisher and striker, the rest of these "guys" looking lost in space just floating around as spectators like the rest of us with maximum eyes on Messi, but little of the maestro on the ball in the areas where he really kills off a team. 
             Rarely in these tournaments have we seen Lionel Messi cutting in on his left foot like a wild horse in heat from the right wing, arriving ahead of tackles and challenges into that area on the cusp of the box where he looooooves to shoot from...the location of around 400+ of his 670+ goals.         

             He's not glued to that move, as someone like Arjen Robben proved to be (after that whole inverted winger thing was figured out a few years back), but it's the move that remains unbeatable: his goal vs Nicaragua just days ago, his last second goal vs Iran in the World Cup, his dribbling festival carbon copy goal in the 2014 World Cup vs Bosnia...
              ...yes that isn't Grade A competition, sure, because too often against Germany, France, Croatia, Brazil or Chile we've seen Messi marked out of matches and forced deep into midfield to receive the ball without any adjustment from the manager and the worst selection from the available midfielders to choose from even if you wanted to switch it up.
              We never saw Messi able to cut inside and shoot on goal at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, unless it was from 80 yards away and from a free kick. Too often he was shoved around and passed around by a spineless, sackless Le Albiceleste side that was too scared to force the ball into him when he was finally in space, shoving the ball out to the right back again and back to the center back...back and forth...back and forth...Messi wasting breath...wasting time...wasting his energy...wasting away...
               He needs someone to cut those 40-50 yards out of his game...he doesn't need to be doing all of the running unless he feels like dropping deeper for a period of time to affect the game, then okay...but what we want to see is Messi on the cusp of the box, picking the ball up in a one on one, 2-on-1 situation with an option to pass, move or shoot in his back pocket and enough runners freeing him up into more space (constantly and consistently).
             He needs players who are willing to use their bodies as physical threats for once instead of passive, scared "fans on the pitch" giving and receiving the ball from him like fearful chickens in front of the god himself. 
            Argentina were playing against Messi in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, completely clogging his dribbling paths, shooting alleys or passing lanes to such an embarrassing degree at times it was almost laughable to us all...and even to Messi, the great character himself.
             The Argentine team (barring Mascherano, Aguero and Banega) at the 2018 World Cup were just shitting Messi the ball into instant pressure and traffic and saying "here...win the game like Maradona or we'll crucify you by the balls".
            
            Messi needs someone to help him...someone to feed him the ball in those little pockets of space that he loves to receive the ball in and right at the precise moments before he's being constantly clattered into, let alone being able to combine for goals in the final third with both the Barca man and Sergio Aguero.            
         Giovanni Lo Celso is that player. 
              It would be so much better if Ever Banega were there deeper in midfield to receive the ball from the back and cut those hard yards out of Lo Celso's game with his incisive passing, instead manager Lionel Scaloni has gone with a beyond meager midfield of only three true central midfielders surrounded by a host of slightly versatile left and right wingers (mostly left: Rodrigo De Paul, Roberto Pereyra, Acuna, Di Maria, although Guido Pizarro and Paredes provide the only two anchoring, defensive minded midfielders in the entire squad). 
            Though this youthful team could out-pace their slower South American counterparts in a group containing Paraguay and Qatar, two teams they should run through providing a confidence-boosting first performance vs Columbia on June 15th. 
           Columbia has a young defensive core in Yerry Mina and Davinson Sanchez and as valuable as Mina was in the 2018 World Cup going forward (3 goals for a center back), he can be exposed righteously at the back as Lionel Messi well knows from his few times on the pitch at Barcelona.
             Now with Aguero and Messi finally being played in tandem (how Jorge Sampaoli wasn't strangled by Messi for keeping Aguero on the bench during the World Cup is beyond me) and Giovanni Lo Celso being played behind them in a hybrid #10 / midfield role, we should finally get to witness the goalscoring and title-winning histrionics that this partnership between Messi and Aguero has been denied for far too long.
            We've seen too many tournaments where Messi was having to battle a lesser team by himself, launching shot after shot and key pass after key pass, being lucky if it was 1 or 2-0 against a ten man wall, Kun Aguero usually coming on for the last bits of garbage time, or he was carrying a knock and was subsequently unfit to play.

Witness how Lo Celso is hardly celebrating this goal he created, knowing the more meaningful work is ahead.

            Hopefully that is a history lesson of the past and we see Messi and Aguero completely unleashed, though in a tournament that's recently been hard to find goals in, the biggest factor in their Copa America fate is Gio Lo Celso.
             The kid had all the eyes on him when he took to the pitch for a friendly vs Nicaragua: hushed whispers of excitement and half-expectation murmuring around the grounds and among the anti-Messi Argentine press, "is this finally the creator who can unlock the nonstop goalscoring expertise of the Barca and City duo?"
              Well, all early signs are very good: though this is only against Nicaragua, and Argentina still looked sloppy in possession (especially under duress), it was still a rampant final 20 minutes of the first half: Lo Celso created 4 filthy chances in the first 45 with Messi and Aguero feasting on 3 of them (all this talk about the first 45 is due to Messi and Aguero being substituted at half-time).
            The Real Betis and former PSG man carved a fantastic opportunity that even surprised Messi himself when Lo Celso's teardrop chip over the defense perfectly fell to Messi's left from only 4 yards away on goal, only for this moment of true quality to catch Leo slightly off guard and the shot went narrowly wide right, Lionel not being used to receiving such world class distribution in the box.
            Messi gave his thumbs up to Lo Celso to keep em coming, angry at himself for the miss and visibly rising to the disappointment: Leo ran faster, looked hungrier and acted more diligent to atone for his miss as he flew into some disgusting dribbling moves and pressed the Nicaraguan back-line into submission. 
              Later, after Lo Celso had set Mathias Suarez up for a blast that ricocheted off of the post, the former PSG man received the ball at the right corner of the box and waited for a deceptive move from Messi, retreating from goal before hooking back around towards the box; the pass from Lo Celso was exquisite, a perfect through ball along the floor that created the path for Leo to touch the ball through defender after defender on a long horizontal run across the penalty area, waiting and waiting until the last possible moment and then banishing the ball into the back of the net, a near carbon copy goal to the one he scored on Bosnia in the 2014 World Cup.
              Seconds after this goal broke the stubborn Nicaraguan resistance, Lo Celso played Kun Aguero through on goal and the City striker sent a scalping shot along the surface, a shot that was saved directly into Messi's path for the tap-in, giving Messi his 2nd goal in 90 seconds and Lo Celso an uncredited direct goal contribution for the goal.
                Although,
 this Argentina side would be much more solidified in midfield had they opted to take Ever Banega as well, Lo Celso's confidence and understanding with the front two has to be nurtured and protected as if he were Messi himself (late in the match, it seemed that Lo Celso had been injured, something which would have described Messi's luck with Argentina too perfectly).
             There is hope in this Argentina, with Messi, Aguero, Dybala and Lautaro Martinez, Di Maria, Pereyra off of the bench comprising the attack, Lo Celso, Parades in a famished midfield, and Tagliafico, Otamendi, Foyth and Saravia (since he's their only right back) in defense, the team can work as an organized animal collective for the decisive magic of their front men.
           Hopefully for Messi's sake we see a disciplined and sane Nicolas Otamendi and Juan Foyth at the back who can show their expert passing from deep and Otamendi's underrated attack from set pieces (Otamendi had a headed assist vs Nicaragua, but then gave away a penalty and is known to be vicious and reckless: his kicks to the back of Rakitic and other Croatian players in the 2018 FIFA World Cup is merely one example among a career full of reckless, thuggish violent conduct that may provide hilarious GIFs, but definitely loses you World Cup or Copa America finals).

             Could Lo Celso take the failed reigns of past Argentina creators like Di Maria, Aimar, Veron, Banega, Lavezzi, (even the great Riquelme himself) and finally deliver Messi an international title?
              We'll have to see...but as long as Lionel Messi is breathing and Sergio Aguero is healthy, Argentina have a chance to outscore anyone.
              However most of Messi's career has been (and in some circles always will be) viewed as a Shakespearean fall from grace: the man of two faces, a duplicitous icon of two sides: victory and accomplishment at Barcelona, ruin and despair for his country. 
                 Though even blind men realize the pertinent fact that if Gonzalo Higuain can sneeze a ball into the net from 6 yards out (and also stay onside) against Germany in the 2014 final, Messi has a World Cup; if Higuain can finish Messi's brilliant chances set up on a plate to him during the Copa America Finals of 2015 and 2016, Messi has a Copa America title. 
            But we don't play that game, though we do acknowledge it: reality's reality, and it sucks, it bleeds and it hurts too...but when the relief and the deliverance cannot come, we must all remember: it's just a game.
                For us: maybe it is just a game...but for Messi, this is his legacy as an Argentine on the line 

thanks to the betrayal of the Argentine football press painting Messi as a demon-jesus-satan-saint by the match.             
              This entitled disgust from the press (and so-called fans who boo him) at Messi's retiring and un-retiring and their cold-blooded treatment of Leo before and during these announcements, points to the reason why he felt like quitting in the first place: one second he's "MESSIah", the next second he's "Messi that little guy who's not as good as Ronaldo". 
           Soon enough, he realized no matter what he did or how he did it, Lionel Messi would never be enough for these leeches, even in some scenarios if he won (ex: if Argentina win the 2019 Copa America without Messi scoring a goal and maybe just grabbing 1 or 2 assists, regardless of how well he may play for every second, it wouldn't be the sexy "destiny-controlling" smattering of performances that these haters must be placated with, most of whom I must say have never passed a ball in their lives, it would never go far enough for them in passing Ronaldo's Euro 2016 title (a final he didn't even participate more than 8 minutes in).
           So Messi should act like Neil Young and play the set list he feels like playing, perform and create the art he feels like creating and dance to the tune and the symphony he feels like conducting and worry not a thought about fools lost in the space dust of their mother's basement.

             I sincerely feel there is a happy ending to the Messi-Argentina story, hopefully not as short of a happy ending as Robert Kraft's was, but a sustained glory-filled success in the Copa America and at least for one more World Cup to follow; with Giovanni Lo Celso's aid and help, Messi could yet have his hands on a title or two.
                With Neymar idiotically picking up yet another ankle injury (photos of which seem nearly photo shopped), (the supposed favorites) 

Brazil won't be as cohesive in attack, regardless of their 7 sloppy goals in a meaningless friendly on Sunday; so with Neymar missing once again and Brazil being more beatable than once viewed, the typical reaction now is set up for the rabid Argentine press to influence the fans into putting titanic pressure on Argentina to win this title, lest the window of opportunity slam shut forever.
             While Messi has Paraguay's number in Copa Americas (1 goal & a hat trick of assists in his last 2 appearances against them and in those two apps. Argentina scored 8 goals to Paraguay's 3) and Qatar being out of their depth altogether, the only real threats to a full-strength version of Argentina finding their groove in attack: Uruguay, who may possess the best squad in the tournament behind Brazil, or James Rodriguez, Juan Cuadrado and Falcao's Columbia who could wreck Messi's Copa America before it begins (Barcelona teammate Jeison Murillo defended Messi out of the 2015 meeting expertly, a match Argentina narrowly escaped on penalties).
               Whatever goes down, Lionel Messi will be (and is) the best player of all time, the absolute greatest...whether with an international title or not, this man is the greatest there has ever been and may ever be, though it would be an even better summer if everyone else were to finally figure out the same thing after all these years.


by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN, 
Copyright 2019 Landlord Zero LLC

(these photos are not mine, used with fair usage act through Google Images)