In the past couple of years, Lionel Messi's name has seemingly become synonymous with association football or soccer. As a player for FC Barcelona, he has one a wide array of accolades including multiple domestic and European titles. However, Messi's international career has not been so highly decorated with him losing four major tournament finals since 2007 and now he believes it is the right time to quit international football, reports Chris Arnold for NPR.
Football is a team sport, and this has been proven by how even the best player in the world cannot carry his entire team in spite of them having multiple chances to claim glory. Lionel Messi may have scored hundreds of goals over his storied career and he may have been named FIFA's World Player of the Year a record 5 times, but his performances for the Argentinian national football team haven't been something to write home about.
In the 2007 edition of the Copa America, Messi got his first taste of a tournament final playing for Argentina. Unfortunately, they crashed out in the final, losing 3-0 to an, at the time, heavily favored Brazilian side. Messi would get another chance at winning this type of tournament final at the 2014 World Cup, but unfortunately his side lost 1-0 against Germany during extra time.
With a so much to prove, it would seem as though a Lionel Messi-led Argentina side would dominate the 2015 Copa America, but alas, they once again lost, this time to penalties against a considerable underdog in Chile. Argentina and Chile would again meet in the 2016 edition of the Copa America, the tournament's 100th anniversary, with Argentina beating their bitter rivals in the group stage 2-1.
In the final, Argentina and Chile would meet again and go the distance to penalties. Lionel Messi missed his spot kick, as Argentina went on to lose 4-2 on penalties. After his fourth finals defeat in 10 years, Lionel Messi announced his international retirement on Argentinian TV saying, "It's been four finals, I tried," per reports from BBC.
