Considering the vast scale of his global fame, perhaps the most unusual element of Lionel Messi's breakout tournament in Argentina colours is that his most gifted teammate would not have been able to pick him out of a line-up.
"Two weeks before travelling we were having supper and, well, I didn't know who he was. It was the first time I saw him," Sergio Aguero recalled. "We were talking about some boots and Leo says, 'yeah, in the United States' and this and that. And I said to myself, 'who's the guy?'.
"I didn't watch many games outside of Argentina back then. So I asked him his name."
Messi's unusual worldliness within the Argentina Under-20 squad preparing for the 2005 Youth World Cup in the Netherlands owed much to him moving from his native Rosario to Barcelona as a 13-year-old. It also accounted for his relative anonymity.
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After a monosyllabic introduction — Aguero had to prompt him again for his surname — the penny belatedly dropped with Kun that this was the kid who went to Barca. The pair would soon hit off a firm friendship that led to them rooming together throughout their senior international careers and an understanding on the field quickly flourished during the tournament.
Messi was the top scorer with six goals, a haul capped by two successfully converted penalties in the final, and walked away with the player of the tournament award as captain Pablo Zabaleta lifted the trophy. The success came in the midst of a golden period for Argentina's age group sides as an overhaul of youth football in the country masterminded by Jose Pekerman yielded considerable fruit.
In 2004, a side coached by Marcelo Bielsa swept to the Olympic gold medal. This was a title they would defend successfully in 2008 after Messi was given the blessing of Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola to "win gold", despite the club having obtained a court ruling stating they were not obliged to relinquish the jewel of their La Masia academy for the Games.
Magic Messi! ⚽
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 5, 2021
When Argentina's Lionel Messi added an Olympic gold to his medal collection! 🇦🇷🥇#Football | #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/NGU46FPbCo
The Argentina squad for Beijing proved to have incredible pedigree over the next decade in elite European club football. Alongside Messi were Aguero, Zabaleta, Angel Di Maria, Fernando Gago, Ever Banega, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Javier Mascherano, the latter aged 24 at the time so named as one of three over-aged players allowed within the Olympics' Under-23 format.
Another was the masterful playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, an important on-field ally and mentor for Messi during his early years with La Albiceleste. Riquelme knew the particular pressures of being saddled with the "next Diego Maradona" tag, something that was unavoidable for Messi after his exploits in Holland.
In 1979, Maradona led Argentina to glory in the same tournament, partly fuelled by a righteous fury over being left out of his country's triumphant 1978 World Cup squad. By 1986, he had twice attracted global-record transfer fees, turned the 1986 World Cup in Mexico into a bespoke exhibition for every facet of his brilliance and entered the conversation for who might be the greatest footballer of all time.
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That Messi was plausibly on anything like the same path prompted giddy excitement. Even a contentious red card on his full international debut against Hungary in August 2005 felt fittingly Diego-worthy.
Messi 🇦🇷🤝🇦🇷 Maradona
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) May 2, 2022
Would this be the most unstoppable duo ever? pic.twitter.com/f1cburcYG9
Despite still being in the final stages of recovery from a hamstring injury he sustained against Chelsea in the Champions League, he joined a much-fancied Argentina squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Pekerman's transformative work in the youth ranks had landed him the top job and his team swaggered through the group stage.
Maradona cut a figure of animated delight in the stands when Messi came off the bench against Serbia & Montenegro, becoming Argentina's youngest-ever World Cup player by appearing eight days before he turned 19. He duly scored, completing a 6-0 rout in a game best remembered for Esteban Cambiasso crowning a sumptuous 24-pass move to score one of the tournament's all-time great goals.
One of the great team goals in World Cup history 👌
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) August 18, 2019
Happy birthday, Esteban Cambiasso 🇦🇷@Argentina | #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/qtwa0lE9ou
After starting a group-stage dead rubber versus the Netherlands, the birthday boy came off the bench in a tense last-16 tie against Mexico, having a goal disallowed for offside before Maxi Rodriguez sealed a 2-1 victory in extra time.
That set up a blockbuster quarter-final clash with hosts Germany. Die Mannschaft would prove to be merciless tormentors of Messi on the international stage but in Berlin they did not get a look at him.
🇦🇷💥😮
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) September 17, 2020
🔙 #TBT to this moment of Maxi Rodriguez magic at Germany 2006 🪄#WorldCup | @MR11ok | @Argentina pic.twitter.com/JxFkEEnSfk
Leading 1-0 through a Roberto Ayala goal early in the second half, any of Pekerman's urges for pragmatism during the closing stages were hastened by an injury to goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri in the 71st minute. A minute after sending on understudy Leonardo Franco, he replaced Riquelme with Cambiasso.
Messi would usually have been the go-to change to freshen up the attack but, in the 79th minute, the Argentina boss opted for the more robust qualities of Julio Cruz in place of Hernan Crespo. In the 80th minute, Miroslav Klose equalised for Germany with his fifth goal of the tournament.
Neither side could break the impasse during extra time and, despite scoring their first four kicks, misses from Ayala and Cambiasso saw Argentina eliminated. Back home Pekerman was the focus of considerable ire. However understandable his calls look when presented in sequence, the decisions to remove the mercurial Riquelme and leave a disgruntled Messi kicking off his boots on the bench were essentially unforgivable in the court of public opinion.
Pekerman resigned amid the grim irony that the man who did so much to furnish Argentinian football with the benefits of an elite youth system would be remembered for losing his nerve and failing to pick the best of them all when it mattered most.
For Messi, this represented a state of affairs that would quickly feel as alien as he did to Aguero across the dinner table a year earlier. Argentina had failed to live up to suffocating expectations, but it was not his fault. Messi represented the possibility of what could be, the promise of unparalleled glory.
The same was true at the 2007 Copa America, where he was crowned young player of the tournament and his alliance with Riquelme blossomed. Messi chipped in with a couple of goals and Riquelme notched five en route to the final. It jarred that Argentina lost 3-0 to an unfancied Brazil in the final, as any defeat to their eternal enemy did.
But Messi would have plenty more chances to lift major silverware with his country. It was a matter of time, something the next year's Olympic gold merely confirmed. How could this collection of talent possibly fail?
Credits and acknowledgements
The Sporting News was fortunate enough to speak to a number of experts on Portuguese and Argentine football to enhance the Messi & Ronaldo: Destination Mundial series. We would like to thank the following people for their time and input – please do check out their superb work.
Santi Bauza: Argentinian football journalist and content creator, whose credits include Copa 90, CNN and Hand of Pod.
Dan Edwards: Freelance football journalist based in Argentina, formerly the long-time South America correspondent for Goal.com.
Peter Coates: Editor of Golazo Argentino.
Simon Curtis: Portuguese football expert and co-author of The Thirteenth Chapter.
Aaron Barton: Creator of English-language Portuguese football destination Proxima Journada.
Tom Kundert: Creator of PortuGOAL and co-author of The Thirteenth Chapter
Joshua Robinson & Jonathan Clegg: Wall Street Journal sports reporters and authors of Messi vs. Ronaldo: One Rivalry, Two GOATs, and the Era That Remade the World's Game
NEXT: PART 3 | CULES SCHOOL
