Lionel Messi is walking into history
Whatever happens in the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain, one thing is clear: Messi has transformed football.
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Argentina’s Lionel Messi celebrating after his team won the World Cup semi-final match against England on July 15 to advance to the final.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Rowan Ricardo Phillips
By late afternoon on July 15, the roads in Barcelona had begun to empty. I was still an hour from the place where I planned to watch the Argentina-England semi-final, checking the dashboard clock, afraid I would miss the beginning and more afraid that this beginning might be Lionel Messi’s last.
On the indoor, air-conditioned field in Atlanta, under a roof closed against the Georgia heat, Messi wasn’t hurrying. The semi-final began as a rock fight: churning legs, desperate tugs, lunging tackles, the ball repeatedly disappearing beneath the urgency of reaching it. England’s younger players pressed and collided and chased. Inside all that motion, Messi walked.