Lionel Messi: An Unauthorized Biography by Biographies Belmont and Belcourt

Author:Biographies, Belmont and Belcourt [Biographies, Belmont and Belcourt]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Belmont & Belcourt Books
Published: 2012-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

National Team

Lionel has always had an iconic tag to look up to. Diego Maradona’s success on the national stage has yet to be repeated from Lionel Messi. Some argue that this is the only reason why Lionel can’t be regarded as the best player in the world ever, until he’s replicated his Barcelona’s performances at the international competitions.

Due to his gaining of Spanish citizenship in 2004, Lionel was given the opportunity to represent the Spanish national side at under-20 level. He didn’t take too long to mull over the decision; he rejected the offer, given his loyalties and commitment to his Argentine heritage and background. It didn’t take Argentina long to react after this, and the Argentina under-20 team selected him for the friendly match against Paraguay in the summer of 2004.

Even at 17 years old, his talent was easily seen in abundance, but Argentina wanted him to experience international football in his age group before promoting him to the senior side. His international success kicked off in 2005 when he was part of the Argentina team that was crowned champions at the FIFA World Youth Championships.

Argentina lost their opening group game in the FIFA World Youth Championships to the U.S. 1-0, which prompted the manager to start him in the next game against Egypt. He scored his first international goal during that game, and gave Argentina a 2-0 win. He started in the deciding game against Germany where the winner would qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. Argentina won and progressed through to round 16 where they faced Colombia.

He completed his first full 90 minutes in an Argentina shirt and scored his 2nd goal of the competition to guide Argentina on their way to a 2-1 victory which set up a quarter-finals show down with Spain. Argentina knocked out Spain 3-1 with Lionel Messi scoring Argentina’s 3rd goal to kill off Spain that included players such as David Silva, Cesc Fabregas, and Fernando Llorente.

The semi-finals were against South American rivals Brazil and Argentina scored a 93rd winner to achieve a place in the final. He opened the scoring for Argentina in the 7th minute to score his 4th goal of the tournament. He also scored the 2 winning goals in the final against Nigeria from the penalty spot and was the inspiration in Argentina’s triumph in the FIFA World Youth Championships of 2005. This was also where his performances were recognized from both Argentina and Barcelona. His goals and performances at the tournament rewarded him with the Golden Boot and Golden Ball.

Just a month later, the Argentina first team manager, Jose Pekerman, had decided to hand him his international debut at senior level against Hungary. Immediately after coming on in the second half, he was running circles around the Hungary players who tried to slow him down by holding onto the forward as much as they could. His debut was cut short within 2 minutes of coming on, as he head-butted defender Vilmos Vanczak and was given a straight red card.

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