What more must Messi prove?

By Orville Higgins

I have said and written before that one of the subplots to this World Cup was how Lionel Messi would play. Would he do enough to convince the doubting Thomases that not only is he the best in the modern era, but worthy to be considered the best of all time. It's generally accepted that, at the club level, he is peerless, but his performance at the World Cup was always seen as below par.

Despite winning four straight Ballon d'Or titles and being widely considered the best of his generation, there has always been a question mark above his head, because he supposedly hasn't stood out at a World Cup. There will always be those who maintain that he cannot be placed in Maradona's or Pelé's class, until he wins the Jules Rimet trophy, which is one of the most illogical arguments making football circles worldwide.

To those of that view, I have constantly asked, who is the best goalkeeper of all time? Whoever they name, I have asked the follow-up: Do you rate him as the best goalkeeper because he has won a World Cup or purely on the quality of his play? At this point, they usually grudgingly admit that winning a World Cup ought not to be part of the resume of the game's greatest goalkeeper. When they get to this point, I then ask: If goalkeepers don't have to win a World Cup to be considered the best of all time, why does an outfield player have to be saddled with that albatross around his neck? I have never yet got a good answer to that!

NOT SCORING GOALS

One of the big arguments coming out of the 2010 World Cup was how well Lionel Messi really played. According to some critics, he was little above average, some even say he flopped. Their reason? He didn't score a goal. I thought differently. Indeed, I still believe Messi was the best attacking player at the 2010 tournament. No other player was as constant a menace to the opposition's goal. None was as instrumental in setting up goals for teammates. None had so many brilliant shots saved. The fact that he wasn't on the scoresheet was a blip that could be overlooked, considering his overall body of work.

Come 2014, the script has been flipped dramatically. Up to this point, Messi has four goals in three games, but, the truth is, he hasn't looked as imposing as he did four years ago. He isn't as marauding, not as involved, not the dominant figure he was in 2010 - at least not up to this point.

NAYSAYERS

He does, however, have his four goals, and they were match-winning or match-turning strikes. The naysayers are now in a quandary as to how he should be judged now. Is Messi playing better now than at a similar stage in 2010? The question poses a serious dilemma to those who were judging him, purely on the basis of goals scored, or, in his case, goals not scored in the 2010 tournament.

If they accept that he played better in 2010, they are, in effect, saying goalscoring can't be the only thing that should have decided how we view someone who was not playing as an out-and-out striker, but instead behind a front two. If they say he is playing better now, then its clear they are saying that only on the basis of the goals he has scored because, the truth is, outside of his goals, Messi has looked ... ahm ... good, but not really out of class, compared to others.

I'm waiting on the World Cup to end to see how Messi will be judged. I am supporting Argentina, partly because I want Messi to lift the trophy and challenge the doubters. If they accept that a World Cup medal puts him in the debate about the world's all-time greatest, they are, in effect, saying, one tournament, nay, one game, (because if he loses at the final, then he can't lift the cup) can make a difference between being very good and being arguably the best ever. That, in itself, is asinine, and doesn't stand up to rational scrutiny.

Messi shouldn't have to prove anything in this tournament. He is still, arguably, the game's greatest talent. Only Maradona and Pelé should be mentioned in the same breath, and he might have already done enough to be ahead of at least one of those! More to come!

Orville Higgins is a sportscaster and talk-show host at KLAS ESPN FM. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.