Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi may have it all — super successful careers, riches and cabinets laden with glittering mementoes that are testimonies to their brilliance. But the one thing they both lack is the FIFA World Cup. For all of their soccer wizardry, neither could conjure a single goal in the knockout phase. And after Messi’s Argentina and Ronaldo’s Portugal got eliminated from the World Cup on Saturday, it seems like the dream may never come true.
Soon after the Argentinian team was defeated by the brilliant performance of France’s 19-year-old Kylian Mbappé, the Portuguese, too, succumbed to two fantastic goals by Uruguay’s Edinson Cavani. The exit of the GOATs — greatest of all time — however, has left millions of fans across the globe heartbroken. Many even took to social media to express their disappointment, while supporting their heroes.
Unconditional love
Many great footballers haven’t lifted the World Cup, and it looks like Messi is going to join the list. However, the love of his fans hasn’t reduced a bit. Says Bharat Bhushan, a Messi fan and football fanatic, “Messi is the best. One may lose matches but that certainly cannot be the parameter of a player’s brilliance. Football isn’t like cricket, where a batsman is on his own while facing the bowler. Here, the whole team has to play like a single entity. Yesterday was just not Argentina’s day. While I am disappointed that I won’t be able to see Messi play in the World Cup anymore, I am still his fan.” Ask Bharat, who he thinks will lift the cup now and he quips, “I feel this World Cup is all about the underdogs. Who would have expected Uruguay to perform so well? Belgium also is looking pretty fine. Now I feel it can be anyone!”
Actor Sumanth, who is a huge Messi fan, also seems to be disappointed with the team’s loss. “I am very disappointed to see Argentina knocked out of the World Cup! Now the tournament has lost its charm; the star power has faded with Messi’s Argentina and Ronaldo’s Portugal out of the event,” he says, adding, “I will be leaving to Russia soon to watch the semi-finals and finals just to get a firsthand experience of the atmosphere. I don’t have a favourite anymore.”
Naveen Korada, who is a diehard CR7 fan and had plans to go to Russia had Portugal won this match, feels sorry for Ronaldo. “When Ronaldo started the FIFA World Cup 2018 with a hat-trick against the 2010 world champions Spain, all eyes were on the Real Madrid star and his team. Even though Ronaldo was a frustrated figure throughout the match against Uruguay, he showed true sportsman spirit when he helped Cavani off the field in the 74th minute after the Uruguay striker suffered an injury. I am disappointed because I believe Ronaldo deserved a grander exit.”
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The aftermath
Despite the remarkable hat-trick by Ronaldo against Spain and Messi’s genius play against Nigeria during the initial matches, one wonders what went wrong with both the teams. Throwing some light on their flaws, football coach Peter Siddiqui, GR Football Academy, Hyderabad, says, “Argentina took very easy goals; the defender was just standing there. He barely tried blocking the easy ones. The team cannot expect to win if they just survive on Messi. One player cannot always lead the entire team. With Portugal the only thing that went wrong was that they didn’t play well. Uruguay took the chances they got and Portugal were blindsided by easy scoring chances. These are the reasons why they lost.”
While Portugal failed to streamline their aggression, the miscommunication between the team members was the reason for Argentina’s downfall. “With Portugal it was simply that their aggression was not channelised to win. But Argentina had the ball for 70 per cent of the game, but they had absolutely no control over it,” explains football coach Shamsuddin, Sports Village, Hyderabad, adding, “Messi did not play with the fire that he has while playing for Barcelona. The miscommunication between the team members was very evident.”
Who will win?
With two of the best teams bowing out of the World Cup, the tournament has been thrown wide open. Teams like Belgium, Spain, Uruguay and Croatia have been performing splendidly and consistently. “I am not rooting for any specific team,” shares actor Rahul Ravindran, who is a huge football fan, adding, “But with the World Cup throwing surprises, my dark horses are Belgium, Croatia and Uruguay because they have it in them to peak at the right time. But I tip either France or Brazil to be the favourites.”
Author Sriram Karri, who is following every match, feels Messi and Ronaldo were given too much of importance. “It is one thing to be a club superstar but another to be a national hero. Messi never gave me the feeling of such supreme passion. His art is the highest but not the hunger; not quite like Maradona. And CR7 is too much of a brand — like Beckham — and was made a God before so the hunger factor is down,” he says.
Talking about which team he is supporting, Karri adds, “I have always backed Germany. But they are out too. This edition has been great in so many ways. France and Spain are looking good. Even England has the potential of redoing a 1966 (England won the FIFA cup in ’66).”
— With inputs from Oishani Mojumder and Sashidhar Adivi
