Lionel Messi & other Argentinian Captains who bagged FIFA World Cup Trophy
Argentian Captains who led their teams to the ultimate victory, the FIFA Football World Cup Trophy
The FIFA Football World Cup is a trophy every player dreams of having in his trophy cabinet at the end of his career. There is no greater joy than winning the cup for the country. However, not everyone is fortunate enough to have the experiences and often even the best players have had to wait for years, or even decades, to get their hands on the much-vaunted trophy.
One such person is Lionel Messi, by far one of the best football players in the history of the sport and definitely the best amongst the players since the past 20 years or so. Despite having won Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) award for being the best football player a record 8 times and despite having led Argentina to numerous glorious victories, both Messi and Argentina under Messi had been deprived of the ultimate championship, the FIFA Football World Cup Trophy.
Finally, during his fifth and almost certainly the last World Cup, Messi made amends and led his teammates to the prize that had for so long evaded them. On Sunday, when Argentina beat France 4-2 in penalties, Messi had delivered, giving endless joy to his countrymen and millions of fans elsewhere in the world.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has become the most memorable World Cup for every Argentinean and Messi fan as their hero finally laid his hands on the trophy on Sunday night. With that touch, Lionel Messi ended his own wait for 8 years and Argentina’s wait for 36 years.
With Messi, there are now three brilliant leaders who have led their Argentinean team to the trophy.
Daniel Passarella (1978)
Daniel Passarella was the first Argentinean captain who won the World Cup in 1978. He is considered as one of the greatest defenders of all time. He was called “El Gran Capitán” (the Great Captain) because of his leadership ability.
Although he scored only 1 goal in the 1978 World Cup tournament but he was one of the main pillars of the Argentina national football team at that time.
He was the top-scoring defender in his career, with 134 goals in 451 matches, a record broken almost 30 years later by Dutch defender Ronald Koeman in 2004.
Maradona (1986)
Diego Armando Maradona was the second Argentinean Captain who won the World Cup in 1986. Maradona is known as the God of Football because of his magical moves on the field.
He won the FIFA Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament in 1986 World Cup, held in Mexico, where he scored six goals.
The Argentine ace footballer scored 312 goals in his entire career. He recorded eight goals and provided eight assists in 21 World Cup appearances. After Lionel Messi’s 11 goals and Gabriel Batistuta 10 goals, Maradona is the third-highest goal-scorer from Argentina in the World Cup Finals.
Lionel Messi (2022)
Leading Argentina to the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup, Messi, too bagged the FIFA Golden Ball as the best player in the tournament and thus became the first player in the history of the tournament to have won the award twice. Messi had also been adjudged the best player in 2014 as well. In that World Cup, held in Germany, Argentina had reached the finals, only to lose 1-0 to Germany.
With the win on Sunday at Doha, Messi has finally ended the long wait for the Cup No 3 for the Albicelestes, clearly one of the best teams in the world.
