Messi Will Battle Father Time To Perform More Magic In Club World Cup

With Inter Miami CF in Major League Soccer, Lionel Messi has demonstrated he has some gas left in his proverbial tank.

He has demonstrated moments of brilliance, whether he scores a goal or sets up a teammate for one.

He is coming off a span in which he was named MLS Man of the Matchday on two consecutive times, a rare feat, even for someone as great as Messi. He also has 16 goals contributions (10 goals and six assists) in 13 matches.

Now, the Argentine superstar and his Miami teammates faces a greater challenge in the FIFA Club World Cup, a competition that brings together many of the best club sides in the world.

Performing magic in MLS is one thing, doing it on the world stage against better opponents is a demanding level, especially for an attacking player closer to 40 years old.

As lethal Messi can be in finding the net, there are many observers he is more dangerous in finding open teammates for scoring opportunities. When you’re getting double- or triple-teamed many times means there is someone with space out there. Messi has been around the block to know once he releases the ball, the pressure on him will alleviate just a bit for him to find room to roam or run.

And he is confident enough to know that he eventually will get the ball back in perhaps a position where he can do some serious damage.

Long-time teammates are in awe

“It’s a privilege for me and I’ve always said this: having Leo makes a team better and, in this case, it’s also made me a better player,” said Inter Miami teammate and defender Jordi Alba, who played with the Argentine on Barcelona’s star-studded championship sides in Spain.

Midfielder Sergio Busquets, another former Barca teammate who also plays with him on Inter Miami, had similar sentiments.

“I don’t think there’s another player out there as complete and as capable of making a difference as he is, nor do I think there has ever been,” he said “He is fantastic, and few are close to his level.”

Club World Cup’s degree of difficulty

Messi, who won his elusive World Cup championship in 2022, has a slew of individual honors, including FIFA player of the year eight times. If we listed the rest of them here, it probably would break the internet.

On Saturday, June 14, Messi and Inter Miami begin their third competition of the year when they face Al-Ahly (Egypt) in the opening game of the FIFA Club World Cup at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. They will meet on Porto (Brazil) in Atlanta on Thursday, June 19 and then Palmeiras (Brazil) back in Miami Gardens on Monday, June 23 to close out Group A. The top two teams in each of the eight groups will qualify for the Round of 16.

From there, the degree of difficulty will become greater.

It should be noted that Messi has celebrated success three times in previous Club World Cups, while playing with Barcelona. Those competitions were much smaller in length, but a world championship is a world championship.

In 2009, Messi scored the extra-time game-winner in a 2-1 triumph over Estudiantes in the final. Two years later, he connected for a brace as Barca registered a 4-0 victory over Santos. In 2015, Messi started the Spanish giants to a 3-0 win over River Plate. In five CWC matches, he has recorded five goals and five assists.

That is a difficult act to follow, even for Messi in a much longer and demanding tournament.

In an interview that FIFA released on Friday afternoon, Messi spoke about his participation in the tournament, past and present.

“Well, it’s an interesting competition. Having the chance to be part of it is exciting,” he said. “The expectations I have are different to the ones I had when I played for other teams, but I’m eager and I look forward to competing against the best [teams)]and doing well.”

Father Time’s clock is always ticking

Beyond his God-given talents, Messi is no spring chicken. On June 24, he will turn 38, which is considered ancient on the international level for an attacking player.

If there is one enemy that any athlete can’t defeat, it’s Father Time.

It catches up to everyone.

A forward who loses a step can go from a star to an ordinary player, and the entire world can see it live.

That can be devasting at the highest level of international soccer, where the margins can be so thin between putting a dangerous ball on goal and failing to attempt a decent shot.

In MLS, we haven’t seen that too many times.

But there is another factor with age: injuries and knocks. Older players tend to take longer to recover from them.

If you’re playing once a week, that might be enough time to recover to stand out in the next game.

In a competition such as the Club World Cup, where teams play once every four or five days, players don’t have that luxury.

It will be up to Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano, a former Argentine national team teammate of Messi, to figure out the right formula for his star, if he wants his team to go deep in the competition. Messi isn’t the lone aging star on Miami; he is joined by former Spanish internationals Busquets (36) and JAlba (36) and Uruguayan standout Luis Suarez (38).

Mascherano understands that the MLS regular season is a marathon, whereas cup competitions are a sprint. Miami fell to the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals this spring.

“The MLS season allows you to fail in certain games — the knockout phase of a continental league doesn’t; it means you’re out,” Mascherano said earlier this year. “But the CCC playoffs prepare you for what’s coming in October with the playoffs. In the end, the MLS is a long season that ultimately boils down to a continental cup where knockout phases are the norm, and in the end, you can’t fail.”

We’ll see how Mascherano manages Miami, Messi and his friends this month, starting on Saturday night.