After Lionel Messi had orchestrated another late, dramatic Argentina win, beating England to advance to the World Cup final, his teammate Enzo Fernández lifted Messi onto his shoulders, as the team danced around them. In that moment, Messi did not look like someone on the precipice of retirement. He seemed to be having the time of his life.
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It’s easy to forget that Messi is 39 years old, and that this may be his last World Cup, given how he’s played this tournament. He’s carried Argentina now all the way to the final, where on Sunday it will face Spain. For Messi and this Argentina team, it’s a chance at immortality, to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to win back-to-back World Cup titles.
Standing in their way is Spain, a team that has its own all-world talent, the 19-year-old Lamine Yamal. He’s often compared to Messi, since they both started their careers with the same club team, Barcelona. Now on Sunday, Messi and Yamal will face each other on the pitch for the first time. It’s a matchup between the greatest soccer player of all time and his presumed successor. Old Messi vs. New Messi, for the right to hoist the World Cup.
Messi had already been considered one of the all-time greats. But throughout this tournament, he’s made an argument with his play that he deserves to be mentioned first when discussing Pelé, Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi has tallied eight goals and four assists in seven games, all Argentina wins, giving him 21 goals and 12 assists for his World Cup career, both of which are more than any player in history.
With Messi on its side, Argentina has played with the confidence that it can win any game — no matter the score or the situation.
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