Really Tired or Acting Up?

Lionel Messi retired from international football at the remarkably tender age of 29. For the last few days, newspapers and social media alike are eulogizing the farewell of this Argentine star, who commands a sizeable chunk of fans in Kerala. This is not surprising, since its society is generally left-leaning and this has prompted a few politicians to associate Messi and fellow Argentines with Che Guvera and the failed communist revolts in Latin America. When their hopes were pitiably dashed in Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, they adopted the martyred Che as their messiah!

How the Keralites became so fond of Argentina and Brazil in world football? One obvious reason is that the home country, India, is a nobody in football. Our obsession with cricket has relegated all other games to the background. Watching a game, any game for that matter, without a favourite to cheer on is boring for spectators. But why Argentina? The origin of this worship goes back to 1986 and the Mexico World Cup, where Argentina snatched the cup riding on the mesmerizing performance of a short-statured genius – Diego Armando Maradona. The Mexico games were the first World Cup football tournament ever to show live on TV in Kerala. After all, TV came to the state only in 1982, in the run up to Asian Games held at New Delhi that year. Many people, including teen-aged myself, saw firsthand on TV the heroic action we had earlier read only as narratives in newspaper reports. That fascination we Keralites had felt for the Argentine team has not still worn off, even though we see the next generation glued to TV now.

But what about Messi? Did he make such a sacrifice in retiring from international football? The answer is a resounding ‘No’. He will continue to play in club football in Europe, which is raining money on to his pockets. And football is essentially a club game! International games are so scheduled as not to clash with club fixtures. They are generally held in the months of June and July, which is the vacation period of European clubs. According to FIFA’s rules, if you are selected by the national team, you have to play anyway – with only a fraction of the remuneration you used to collect from clubs – and that too, at a time when you are to be resting and relaxing for the next club season. This is the real reason behind the ‘poor form’ of many star players who were consistently performing spectacularly in club football till a few weeks before. So, what this means is that Messi want to concentrate only in making money from now onward, and he is not to be pestered with demands from the national team. I think Brazil’s Neymar would soon follow him.