Neil Humphreys: Make amends for mess, Lionel Messi
Argentina legend deserves homecoming finale in next year's Copa America
Lionel Messi rarely loses his temper. And he doesn't get sent off.
They were the unofficial rules of the modern game, fixed rules, acting as mini beacons of reassurance in a frequently bewildering sport.
Messi managed to defy both in Argentina's 2-1 win over Chile in the Copa America third-place play-off yesterday morning (Singapore time). He broke the rules because they had allegedly fixed his game.
That's what his post-match outburst was really all about.
Ordinarily, the bearded one projects the becalming aura of a football Jedi, capable of controlling the world around him with actions alone.
Words were unnecessary, almost beneath his talent.
But he ended up ranting like a Bishan Park amateur slagging off a stranger for allowing his dog to pee on the pitch.
In his post-match interview, Messi uttered the unspoken word.
Corruption.
He alluded to match officials being "ordered" to make certain decisions, to influence certain results in a tournament played on Brazilian soil.
Considering Messi made similar comments after Argentina's 2-0 semi-final loss to Brazil, a blindfolded toddler could join the dots of his thinking.
Brazil needed to be in the final. Argentina did not.
By any yardstick, Messi's speculative allegations are beyond the pale, forcing Conmebol, South America's football confederation, to call the accusations "unacceptable" and "unfounded".
In fairness to the Argentine, neither he nor Chile's Gary Medel deserved red cards for their minor brushing of handbags in the 37th minute. The referee misread the game's feisty tone throughout and several perplexing decisions underlined the video assistant referee's (VAR) baffling inconsistency.
But maybe, just maybe, the source of Messi's irritation came from within.
He raged against the Conmebol machine because it had stopped the show. His show.
For once, he was delivering on an international stage. For 37 minutes, he was best player on show, by some distance, setting up Sergio Aguero's opener and traumatising Chile's defence.
Until yesterday, the Copa America mostly saw the Argentine Messi, the peripheral one unable to galvanise the average squad around him. This Messi leads to whimsical obituaries about his international failures.
But for half an hour against Chile, the Copa America witnessed the myth from Barcelona, poking away at the ball like Woody Woodpecker stuck on a loop.
DOMINANT
He was also dominant, which is usually the distinguishing feature between his performances for club and country.
By the time of his dismissal, Argentina were 2-0 up and coasting. Had he stayed on the field, he would have improved one embarrassing statistic instead of gaining another.
He would've added to his miserable tally of four goals in 21 knockout matches, rather than pick up his first red card, and only his second since his international debut in 2005.
Of course, one decent performance against the Chileans - once Copa American kings but now very much on the wrong side of their collective peak - hardly constitutes a renaissance.
The asterisk endures.
It's still nine major international tournaments played and nine bitter failures.
But the 32-year old didn't look like a drowning man this time. He was kicking again.
He knew what was happening and so did the natives.
The Brazilian crowd didn't boo an enemy's red card.
They jeered an official's incompetence, denying them the opportunity of watching an awakened genius at work.
Messi wasn't going to retire after this Copa America anyway, but he certainly can't go quietly into the night now, not after this fiasco.
Fortunately, the bizarre duel of the fates that has been waged throughout Messi's international career continues.
Just as one door closes for the Argentina skipper, another opens.
The Copa America returns next year, as the competition seeks to align itself with the likes of Euro 2020. Colombia will co-host with Argentina. Naturally.
The romance writes itself, the rom-com becoming the rom-Copa.
The football gods continue to smile on one of their greatest creations, forgiving every setback.
The guy with almost everything continues to be blessed with second chances.
But his first-half exhibition just about deserved it.
Messi boiled over because his game had been bubbling moments before.
His anger then and his determination now come from the same place - the recognition that the greatest can still produce a great game.
His red card wasn't corruption, but a clumsy robbery.
We were robbed of the rare luxury of watching Messi deliver in an Argentina jersey.
And yet, even then, the uplifting teaser was enough to suggest a redemptive homecoming is a real possibility at Copa America 2020.
The end is near. But Messi is good for one more year.
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