Messi overcomes A match jinx

He was not able to score a goal to the end. However, the player seemed satisfied as he secured a chance to hold up the champion’s trophy at the first major championship as a member of his national team.

Lionel Messi, 28, has now an opportunity to overcome his ‘national team member jinx.’ Argentina had a landslide 6-1 win in the semifinal match of the 2015 Copa America soccer championship against Paraguay, which was held in Conception, Chile on Wednesday. Messi did not score a goal on the day, but garnered three assists and was named the man of match (MOM). When Paraguay’s defense heavily focused on checking him, he assisted teammates through accurate passes and free kicks, rather than resorting to his ineffective shootings.

Messi is dubbed the ‘God of soccer,’ as he has received the FIFA Ballon d`or (Player of the year) award four times, but had never shown impressive play as a national team member. Messi made his A-match debut in 2005, and joined the Century Club (players who have participated in more than 100 A matches) in the group league match against Jamaica at the Copa America championship. However, his national team has never won a major championship including the World Cup, in which he played as a national team member over the past 10 years. Fans have had no chance to see the image of Messi, who has successfully led his pro team to championships, including Barcelona`s win of the UEFA Champions League title.

At a match in last year’s World Cup soccer finals in Brazil, Messi was seen vomiting on the ground. Citing a psychiatrist, the Spanish daily Marca, said “He showed ‘unconscientious despair,’ and had symptoms of vomiting due to immense tension and anxiety.” That is, Messi suffered physical side-effect due to burden from his experience of past failures and high expectations on him among people around him. When he was named the MVP of the Brazil World Cup, in which his team Argentina was the runner-up, Messi bowed his head, saying, “I am sorry that I have not been able to make our people happy.”

Messi has continued to show lackluster scoring performance again in this year’s event, as he has not scored a field goal. However, aiming for his team’s victory at the championship, he is playing hard on the ground. Rather than being stationary at the frontier as striker, he moves back to the central line to coordinate play with his teammates, while serving as the ‘commander’ by providing penetrating passes to teammates who are better positioned than him to score.

Argentine Coach Gerardo Martino said that Messi’s pass always results in a score without fail. He is playing diverse roles in tune with the flow of the match, and is now happy (enough he has not scored a goal himself).

Argentina will play with Chile, the host of this year’s event, on Sunday. Attention is focusing on whether Messi will lead Argentina to championship for the first time in 22 years since its victory in 1993, and hold up the champion’s trophy from A matches, which is an unfinished agenda for him.