Say it ain’t so, Lionel Messi.
The soccer superstar seemingly announced his retirement from international duty Sunday in the aftermath of Argentina’s loss to Chile in the 2016 Copa America final. Messi told reporters after the game he no longer wants to play for his country, as the pain of losing has become unbearable.
“It’s a very hard moment for me to think about what happened,” Messi said, according to ESPN. “In the locker room after the game I thought the national team is over for me, this is not for me…”
Messi played all 120 minutes in the final and missed his chance to score in the penalty-kick shootout.
“It’s what I feel now, a great sadness has occurred again,” Messi continued. “It fell to me to miss the penalty, it was very important.
“It is for the good of everyone, we can’t conform with reaching the final and not winning it.”
Messi now has lost four finals with Argentina, including in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and Copa Americas in 2007, 2015 and 2016.
But Messi also is Argentina’s all-time leading scorer with 55 goals in 113 games since 2005.
Messi criticized Argentina’s Football Association on Friday for what many consider to be persistent mismanagement of the national team program, according to Spanish newspaper AS. Argentinian soccer expert Sam Kelly said on Twitter that Messi’s looming retirement from international soccer is rooted in frustration with the AFA as much as it is in heartbreak from losing.
Whether Argentina can convince the 29-year-old to change his mind remains to be seen. Argentina would be one of the contenders to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia with Messi in the squad, but the absence of one of the greatest soccer players ever would weaken the team.
And world soccer would be poorer without Messi.
How Argentina lost to Chile in the Copa America 2016 final >>
Thumbnail photo via Adam Hunger/USA TODAY Sports Images
