The era of Messi: the great Argentine won the confrontation with the Portuguese Ronaldo

So, the Argentina national team for the third time in its history won the World Cup. In the final, the South Americans beat the French team - in regular time, the Argentines won 2:0, but in 4 minutes the French equalized, in extra time the teams exchanged goals - 3:3. Everything was decided in the penalty shootout, where the Frenchmen Aurélien Tchouameni and Kingsley Coman made mistakes. Argentina forward Lionel Messi was named the best player of the tournament.

Ronaldo is the big player of the Messi era

Football observer Igor Rabiner immediately after the end of the match wrote from the scene:

“Two Argentines told me before the game today: “The spirit of Diego has moved into Leo.”

And it is true. At the same time, Mbappe was a genius. Name me at least one such World Cup final. There was no such thing. It never happened.

And it all ended right. You haven't forgotten how Argentina drove France for 80 or 90 minutes, and only then did this phenomenal comeback begin. And Messi could not, could not, could never fail to become world champion ... "

Sports journalist Igor Shulika is sure that this match drew a kind of line under the great confrontation of the outgoing football era between the Argentinean Messi and the Portuguese Ronaldo:

“The most miserable person in the world right now is Cristiano Ronaldo.

An era in football could be named after him. But he lost it to Messi.

Cristiano Ronaldo decides whether to play in Saudi Arabia, and now Messi will lift the World Cup over his head!

Therefore, Cristiano Ronaldo is a big player of the Lionel Messi era.

At the same time, this Argentina squad is the weakest in a long time, even I can't remember a weaker team than this one. Well, with one exception, it is clear that this is Messi. And who else to mention? Di Maria, who is enough for an hour, goalkeeper Martinez, and the rest? I even had to call, scary to say, Paredes.

The squad was definitely stronger in 2006, and even in 2010.

But what is unique about the Argentina national team and not in the first generation? She wins the World Championship only when there is a person and everyone else. There was Maradona, now Messi. And as a team, alas, she does not succeed. This is a real phenomenon.

Well, I will note coach Scaloni. The youngest coach at the World Cup! Works with the national team since 2018 and three trophies. I didn't put it high, but in vain. He managed to build a team around Messi. And this is not an easy task.

Probably even more difficult than Deschamps had ... But Messi himself was able to become part of the team. But Cristiano Ronaldo did not, remaining a sole proprietor. That is, this is the World Cup named after not only Messi, but Scaloni ... "

Team France or Team Africa?

And the social psychologist Alexei Roshchin turned his attention to a seemingly glaring fact - the number of black players who played for the French team in the final:

“A bit of racism. The final, whatever you say, is excellent - it has not been like this for a long time. Both goals from the game (before Messi's goal) are generally masterpieces, both for the Argentines and for France. And I was rooting for Argentina - mainly because of Messi, of course ... But - consider me a racist, but I am pleased with the defeat of France in many respects for racist, or rather, sociological reasons. Not because I don't like blacks, but because, damn it, the French national team cannot consist of 80% blacks! There is no representativeness. It's the same as if only whites played in the Moroccan national team!

I looked at the statistics: it turns out that officially in France it is forbidden (!) to collect data on the racial composition of the population, by law from some other 70th year of the last century - but, according to estimates, blacks make up from 3 to 5% of the population there. Why are they so dominant in the team?! There is something wrong with this. Although Mbappe, I admit, is great, and he will show everyone.

But in general, hand on heart, you just have to say that in the final, the Argentina team defeated the African team, which was strengthened (or was it weakened?) by several Frenchmen and for some reason called the "French team". And what is sad is that this formula can be attributed not only to France ... "

On the other hand, one can ask the following question: how many representatives of indigenous, South American nationalities play for the Argentina national team? It can be seen with the naked eye that NONE. It is hardly worth paying special attention to race in the modern civilized world. By the way, political scientist Yaroslav Malykh makes a very witty remark about this:

“There is not a single African in the French team - the entire squad was born in the Fifth Republic. It is the Brazilian Mario Fernandes, the Kyrgyzstani Akhmetov who plays for the Russian Federation... And in the 1990s, seven people from Ukrainian football played in the Russian national team...”