Lionel Messi Retires from International Football

After missing in a penalty shoot-out in the Copa América final against Chile, Messi has announced his retirement from international football. Chile went on to win on penalties. Argentina could have become the joint-highest winners of the title but remain as having won 14 times, one behind Uruguay - instead, Chile won to keep the trophy they won last year having never won it before then.

Evidently this means that the 2018 World Cup will be without Messi. It also means that the overall value of Argentina’s squad has dropped by just over 20%, although surely this will impact upon Messi’s transfer value anyway (which is currently equivalent to £90m).

It’s a very young age to bow out of the national team, he’s pretty much at a peak age and given the World Cup will be next on the horizon after the Euros finish then surely he should have seen this as another opportunity to get that medal he has craved for so long. Even at the 2022 World Cup he would be 35 and may have another tournament in him.

I imagine this will come as a big upset to Argentina as a whole, but at the same time they are hardly without world-class strikers with Ángel Di María, Gonzalo Higuaín and Sergio Agüero who are all 28 years old.

Sources...

www.transfermarkt.co.uk...
www.bbc.co.uk...

originally posted by: IllegalName
After missing in a penalty shoot-out in the Copa América final against Chile, Messi has announced his retirement from international football.

False.

Leo Messi is done playing for his national team. He is not retiring at all but may decide to play with another international team that can win. Plain and simple.

Love how media lies or tells half the truth to try and get their headline more clicks.

*face palm*

Check it:

Lionel Messi says he's retiring from the Argentina national team
www.sbnation.com...

Nothing suggests he has retired altogether, I certainly didn’t say that. Going by the sources, he has officially retired from the international arena. That doesn’t mean to say he won’t ever play for Argentina again, he could by all means decide to return but it would be up to the coach to pick him and that wouldn’t be a guarantee. It’s worth noting that both Wikipedia and TransferMarkt no longer list Messi in the squad. Also, when it comes to football matters TransferMarkt is one of the best sources out there. I think it’s fair to say that he won’t be at the 2018 World Cup.

a reply to: IllegalName

All I would have to do is LOGIN to wikipedia and put him back on the national team. So someone already jumped the gun...but that doesn't mean he will retire from the team until it is in writing.

a reply to: Skywatcher2011

Yes, Messi’s Wikipedia page can be edited by anybody with an account older than 4 days, but TransferMarkt cannot. The latter is a very robust scouting system which is most likely used on a professional level - if Messi is not in the squad on their site then he is not in the squad.

In any case, he said it himself...

It's very hard, but the decision is taken.

Now I will not try more and there will be no going back.

a reply to: Skywatcher2011

but may decide to play with another international team

False.


That's against the rules of Football.

*facepalm*

originally posted by: Skywatcher2011

originally posted by: IllegalName
After missing in a penalty shoot-out in the Copa América final against Chile, Messi has announced his retirement from international football.

False.

Leo Messi is done playing for his national team. He is not retiring at all but may decide to play with another international team that can win. Plain and simple.

Love how media lies or tells half the truth to try and get their headline more clicks.

*face palm*

Check it:

Lionel Messi says he's retiring from the Argentina national team
www.sbnation.com...

He won't be able to play for any other national team, although he could play in a Rest of the World team against some other national side. He will never play in a World Cup or Copa America again.

This is a bummer, really sad to see him go out of the international scene on a game like last nights. He had his nations hopes on his back and he sent them over the crossbar. Think that was his first miss of a pk internationaly, if not his first it had been a while. I wonder if this is knee jerk and if he will come back tho. I want him to win something for his country, especially after that shade Maridona threw his way.

a reply to: Sremmos80

I'd be very surprised if we don't see Messi at the World Cup in '18.

Very, very surprised.

a reply to: Hazardous1408

Right? Unless there is something more going on between him and the team behind the scenes. The interview was pretty blunt, pretty much saying I'm tired of trying to win with this team and getting so close just to lose. I wonder if the game would have been any different at 11v11. Because both reds were a bit harsh.

a reply to: Hazardous1408

To be fair, I’d have thought they meant another Argentina side, like different coach and new generation etc... but that’s quite unlikely really, at least there probably won’t be a great deal of change by the time Messi reaches the usual retirement age (and 35 is a good number since it coincides with the following World Cup). As much as it would be interesting seeing him play for Spain.

a reply to: Sremmos80

I wonder if this is knee jerk and if he will come back tho.

Maybe, but he did effectively say his decision is final, although he might make another statement to confirm his position when he returns to Barcelona.

Interestingly though, I just looked at the Italy squad and their average age is 29, same as Messi. Imagine if they all retired if they lose to Spain (I knew it, “bet they just went two up”, and they have)?

originally posted by: Hazardous1408
a reply to: Sremmos80

I'd be very surprised if we don't see Messi at the World Cup in '18.

Very, very surprised.

You might’ve had a point there.

www.bbc.co.uk...