Can Argentina become Messiland?

Today Argentina play France. Regardless of the score, there is already a worldwide winner: Lionel Messi. Actually, he is well beyond anything that has happened in football.

Maradona’s memories of his three year successful historic performance stay in our minds and he is cherished in our country. Anyway, I believe Messi has surpassed him. Lionel has been a top scorer who throughout seventeen years has been awarded trophies and was the youngest Argentine player to score in a FIFA World Cup. Undeniably, both of them have set a landmark in football .

Messi is considered by some people to be gifted. Personally, I think he goes beyond his physical capacity as a footballer. He is the epitome of hard work, who has struck a balance between being passionate while maintaining composure, and demonstrating resilience.?

In fact, success is not achieved by accident. It entails hard work, sacrifice, perseverance despite facing failure; studying; humbleness to learn from others and listening to others’ feedback and suggestions; being a team player; avoiding?suffering from “ the best of all syndrome” and above all love for what we are doing or learning to do. Messi has set an example of his moral condition throughout his career.

We should bear in mind that Lionel started playing football with Newell’s Old Boys at the age of eight. The flea was much smaller than his partners. In fact, he was diagnosed with a hormone deficiency that affected his growth. He was on a rather expensive medical treatment that his parents could not afford and no local club volunteered to do it. Therefore, they migrated to Spain where FC Barcelona would pay for the treatment while he trained. Although he was very young and felt homesick, he did his best to overcome it and focused on his training.?

Despite having had several lesions and injuries, Lionel has become a top scorer. He has been awarded several trophies that he humbly accepted. I think he has created a new standard of excellence, that is now being acknowledged in my country and most likely worldwide.

Nowadays, everyone is raving about him as a human being. We, Argentinians in particular, should learn from him. He did not justify his personal or the team′s performance and neither did he blame his rivals for losing the first match. On the contrary, he promised himself and us that they would win the following match and so they did. He delivered on his promise. Unfortunately, in my country we are not used to that. Messi has proven to be reliable. He has raised the standards of excellence on the pitch and we can measure his performance against them.

In Argentina, it is high time we adopted those standards of excellence and raised the bar. Our country used to be the most promising land for immigrants together with the USA. Those immigrants, my ancestors, came here to “make themselves America” (“hacerse la America”) , which meant working hard, investing in the country, studying and despite adversity never asking any benefits from the government. Dignity in being poor implied not having to receive any handouts and overcoming any hardship either on their own or with the aid of compats. Many of us?are imbued with those principles and we have brought up our children to live by them. At present, many highly qualified and hard working Argentinians have migrated, the members of our squad are no exception. It is very sad to see that professionals who have been trained in our public universities had to migrate to develop professionally?and be prosperous. The same applies to skilled workers who have found other countries welcome them and guarantee stability and a safe environment for them and their families.

Another principle I learned as a child, was to show respect to others in every situation, and that included the language ?I used to address them. In Argentina, I would say this is no longer the case. Foul language, which is in vogue here, is thought to be the way to vent anger, provide catharsis.

On the other hand, Messi has shown us how it is possible to express your anger or disapproval and yet not be vulgar. The word “bobo” he used on one occasion, has regained popularity thanks to?him. He may have used it as a child when he was in his hometown to avoid insulting othersd. Even a commentator on a BBC programme highlighted his register. Even though “bobo” ( silly, clumsy, stupid) was not actually a four-letter word, he conveyed his feelings and the message was strong and clear.

Since I have recently undergone surgery, I will not be able to celebrate his victory in the street but I am already paying homage to him. I hope our compats will not only wear Argentina’s national flag colours or the flag over their shoulders every four years during a World Cup but do it on a daily basis celebrating our potential and working as a team to make Argentina be among the safest and most prosperous countries in the world.

Argentina is a blessed country… in terms of resources, landscape, climate and individuals. We do not seem to be good team players though football is the national sport.

Hopefully, Messi’s life achievements will be a wakeup call for those who do not believe in raising standards in education, justice and healthcare, and rely on government handouts and do not work or advocate that corruption is part of our folklore that is unlikely to ?be controlled or punished.

We, Argentinians, are emotional by nature and upbringing. Hopefully, we will become a bit more sensible in our everyday lives to get Argentina, not just the squad, to regain the prestigious position it used to have in the 20th century.

Thank you Leo, you are one of a kind! Maybe as The Flea, your bite can instill your values in our society!

Super Messi, you are my hero!??