Ten years ago, Lionel Messi had cried his way off this same MetLife Stadium pitch, tearfully announcing his retirement from international football.
A decade later, he came back to the same building to play for a second straight World Cup title. And he suffered another Argentina heartbreaker. And at the venerable age of 39, maybe his last Argentina heartbreaker.
Undermined by Argentina’s lack of possession and lack of discipline, Messi barely had a chance to touch the ball and never had a chance to work his Messi Magic.
And when it was over, Argentina had suffered a 1-0 loss to Spain before 80,663 at MetLife Stadium. And Messi’s World Cup career is almost certainly over with it.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
