Argentina want the Olympics football gold but they’ve been hit by a Messi-sized hole

For ten years, Argentine football was haunted by a simple and singule question: where best to play Lionel Messi in the national team? The diminutive Argentine is a winger, a playmaker, a striker and a false number nine. He shapes the team around him, often sculpting and moulding FC Barcelona with regal zest, playing football the modern way – with pace and precision.

Yet a legion of coaches and football thinkers – Alfio Basile, Jose Pekerman, Diego Maradona, Sergio Batista, Alex Sabella and Gerardo Martino – could never manage to extract Messi’s genius for the national team. But today, the query for the Albiceleste is very different: what do they do without Lionel Messi?

The conundrum adds intrigue to Argentina’s Olympic football campaign. In general, Olympic football has little importance, but South Americans bestow it with an end-all significance that stems from a historical, economic and social inferiority complex when faced against Europeans. The Olympic tournament represents the chance to defeat the Old Continent, a theme continuously repeated in the manic coverage in the Brazilian and Argentine media.

A bit of a mockery

Yet, in all, the tournament is a bit of a mockery, without a streamlined qualification process and without coherent squads. The law of 23 was the accepted compromise for the tournament. The calendar doesn’t allow for another full-fledged international competition that, in turn, would prove an alternative World Cup. The three over-aged players guarantee a good box office. Argentina, together with Colombia, South America’s representative at the tournament, won the right to participate at the Under 20 level.

On a breezy Thursday night in Rio de Janeiro, Argentine discordance was manifest in its opening game against Portugal in Group D. In the opening exchanges Portugal attacked and, at times, sneaked in behind the opposing defence. At the other end, Angel Correa got a fine sight of the goalmouth before halftime, but his attempt was deflected into a corner.

Messi’s bitter ending

Lionel Messi’s exit has crippled Argentine football. The seed of the crisis was the Copa America final at the cavernous MetLife Stadium in July. The game was to be Lionel Messi’s coronation as the greatest Argentine player in history, an uber-Maradona, rightfully in the pantheon of the footballing gods, leaving a profound legacy to the Albiceleste and generations to come.

Instead, scooping his penalty kick high into the New Jersey air, Messi faced a painful deja-vu: another final lost – again, in the most painful of ways, in a tie-breaker. Argentina seemed to suffer from a psychological predicament – the fear of defeat in that one life-defining game, that one game to end a 23-year drought.

Messi slumped to the ground as the Chileans celebrated. The Barcelona player simply didn’t seem compatible with Argentina. It was an existential conundrum – Martino had tinkered with his line-up to accommodate Messi, to get the best out of him, to extract his divine qualities for the benefit of the team. But, again, the plan had not worked out.

Messi missing a crucial penalty did not fit the narrative of a global football icon. He could not and must not fail – but he did. He ballooned the ball high over the bar. In bitter disappointment, Messi decided to retire, a decision sparking the end of an era. The diminutive player caused a domino effect in Argentina football. Javier Mascherano and other top Argentine players are considering retirement too after one defeat too many.

Argentine football in disarray

At the institutional level, the problems at the Argentine Football Association have exacerbated. For decades, the AFA had been the personal fiefdom of Julio Grondona, FIFA bigwig and an unscrupulous football official. Now, the AFA is floundering, with a lack of authority as well as of money. In December, the presidential elections ended in a farcical 38-38 tie between contestants Luis Segura and Marcelo Tinelli.

A few days before the Copa America final, Messi described the situation as “a disaster”. Argentina had suffered delayed flights and problems in finding sparring partners for warm-up games in the lead up to the continental championship. Then Tata Martino resigned as head coach. He had not been paid a salary for several months, according to multiple media reports. His resignation was also intertwined with Argentina’s dour Olympic perspectives.

European clubs have no obligation to release players for the Olympic Games, but their Argentine counterparts held the same line, leading to suggestions that Argentina wouldn’t play in Rio. Julio “el Vasco” Olarticoechea, a staunch defender at the 1986 World Cup, was left with the task of preparing Argentina for the Olympic Games. He was the only coach still working for the AFA.

Against this backdrop, the 2004 and 2008 Olympic champions need new players to step up to prepare for the post-Messi era. Argentina’s nationwide mass mobilisation and belated showing of love for Messi may not be enough to lure its boy wonder back to the national team.

In Rio, Argentina want to win gold, but with a limited squad, domestic disarray and the appointment of a new coach, that will be difficult. Angel Corea, who plies his trade for Atletico Madrid, can lead Argentina. He is a versatile player who can play off a number nine with skill and intelligence. Corea, though, failed to impose himself against Portugal.

At the back, the South Americans were often frail, despite the selection of over-aged centre-back Victor Cuesta of Independiente and goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli of Real Sociedad. In the 66nd minute, Pacienca opened the scoring with a composed strike and then, in the last minutes of the game, Rulli let slip an opportunistic attempt from Pite under his body.

Olarticoechea scratched his head. Argentina are still suffering from a Messi-anic hangover. Wins against Algeria and Honduras may remediate the Albiceleste somewhat, but, at this stage, a gold medal seems utopian.