A short nimbly 19-year old receives the ball just behind the half-line. Then, he softly places the ball away from a wide-leg incoming tackle, takes a touch to stabilize the ball, and with another sends it skimping between another defender's legs past the half-line. Next, He accelerates. Outrunning the beaten ones, He darts for the penalty area. He dodges one, skips through another's wide tackle and crosses the penalty line. The goalie runs towards Him having crossed the 6-yard line, but of course misses, as He deviates away from the Goal to avoid an ambush. Meanwhile, Eto'o had already reached inside the 6-yard and takes his position in the open as the ball continues to race towards the line. And then, He kind of shoots mildly just a few feet from the ground to avoid a def sliding by the post. Eto'o stood aghast in disbelief as the ball kissed the net and the world cheered the arrival of Leo Messi.
Change is inevitable. And growing in its stride is the real challenge. Facing a growth hormone problem when a kid, Leo often found himself playing against heftier boys. He was too small to shoot the ball, so he professed in dribbling and speeding up quickly to leave his opponents behind. Even when he started playing international club football, Messi had that magic in his touches. He just knew how the guy in front's gonna move, which way will he go, how far will his legs spread... phew! I think he treats the ball more majestically than his wife. But how far is this gonna take you? Just being a midfielder with good dribbling skills is not what makes you a legend. It was not long before Messi started taking kicks and was sent ahead and designated the official scorer. The boy just got more dangerous :D
One thing that has always been a delight to watch... There's absolutely no giving up! Numerous times he has been tackled or roughened down. Instead of lying around and appealing (or worse, create a furore about it) he regains himself and goes for the ball again. His childhood coach quoted, "At the club tournaments, Leo used to play against much bigger boys. Nevertheless, he scored 5-6 goals in every match. Messi used to just take the ball from the goalie and start dribbling and passing across the pitch..." All this fame and wealth sometimes gets to your head. But not in His case. Till the extent that I follow Messi, I've never seen any incident that comes even close to rival his genuine and loving being.
If you play football and if you love Messi, you can relate to the feeling when just by watching his videos, you feel inspired to Outwit, Outplay, Outlast.
A humble plea
Stop fighting over Ronaldo vs Messi. Both are extremely gifted players of this generation.
The only difference is.. I admire CR, but I love Leo.
CR's shooting, speed and dribbling skills are in a totally different dimension. Nobody can match him, and he has worked really hard for it. That's a lesson for all of us, in fact.
But Messi plays pure football. At first, it seems like he's one of us. Passing to his players, trying to go into the open, trying to build the game forward... but keep watching him. Stay fixated. It's like the calm before the storm. The show starts when Messi is just strolling around with the ball far outside the box, sees a flock of defenders trying to resist the advances of his brothers alongside, and then probably thinks to himself, "This is boring. Let's change the score. ;)"
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