Even though Argentina was able to take down Chile in its first game of the tournament without Lionel Messi, having him on the field for 30 minutes against Panama showed that for La Albiceleste, it’s always better to have him in the lineup. Messi entered the game in the 61st minute when Argentina was struggling against a 10-man Panama team that was trying everything to find the tying goal in a tight, 1-0 game. The Barcelona forward would go in, score three goals, and wipe off any issues Argentina may had been having at that point.
“Leo went in and he solved everything,” head coach Gerardo Martino said at the end of the game that ended in a 5-0 Argentina win.
Defender Marcos Rojo highlighted the leadership La Pulga has displayed within the team ahead of the game against Bolivia in Seattle.
“In 30 minutes he made a difference,” Rojo said. “It gives us a lot of peace that he is on the field, and outside of it he is one more guy on this group; a phenomenon.”
Lionel Messi is good at soccer. You may know this. In fact, the whole world probably knows this.
On Cristiano Ronaldo’s play against Iceland (1-1)It’s time that we ask ourselves if Cristiano Ronaldo is starting to lose touch with reality. His comments after his Portugal team drew with Iceland yesterday sounded a lot like a man who’s truly lost touch with reality.
In the aftermath of his side’s disappointing start to Euro 2016, the Real Madrid star took to the media to lash out at the Iceland side that cost his nation two points. Ronaldo referred to the way Iceland acted after the match as characteristic of his opponents’ “small mentality.”
Evidently, the most vain player in football took offense to how Iceland’s players celebrated the draw after the final whistle. Forgive me if I don’t shed any tears for Ronaldo. If he wasn’t interested in seeing happy Iceland players after the match, perhaps he should have played better.
For those who missed the match, it was hardly a vintage performance by Ronaldo. He’s clearly the most talented player on the Portuguese squad and they need him to be at the top of his game if his country is going to be able to make any noise in the competition. He let his teammates and his country down against Iceland.
Whoscored.com credited Ronaldo’s play with a score of 6.6 in the match. Frankly, I think that was pretty generous after watching Ronaldo fail to have any real impact on the match. He was anonymous for large passages of play when his teammates clearly needed him to play like the star he is.
I’m forced to wonder if Ronaldo is starting to crack under the immense pressure he faces on a regular basis. The presence of Gareth Bale at his club is starting to highlight that he isn’t the number one option for Real Madrid anymore, and that insecurity seems to be spilling over into Ronaldo’s role with his country.
Ronaldo doesn’t strike me as the type of player to handle his transition away from greatness with a lot of class. It will be interesting to see if this sort of tantrum becomes more common as his game starts to decline. Quite simply, Ronaldo needs constant attention to feel normal. If he can’t garner notoriety with his play, expect him to engage in shenanigans to make sure he remains in the news.
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