ARGENTINA
The surprise message telling Messi not to retire
The revelation was made from the rival player as he took his father’s advice and wrote to the Argentine after he said he was leaving the national team in 2016.
It was a tumultuous period in the Argentine national team due to several stumbles in the finals. From 2014 to 2016, the Albiceleste lost the 2015 and 2016 Copa América, both against Chile, and the most painful was the final of the 2014 World Cup against Germany. Those defeats, coupled with strong criticisms, led Lionel Messi to step away.
**Follow Messi and Inter Miami live in US Open Cup semi final**
“I believe it’s a definitive decision. It’s what I feel right now. It’s a great sadness that we’ve experienced once again. On top of it, I missed the penalty. It was crucial for gaining an advantage. Today, I missed it, that’s it,” the Argentine announced after losing the 2016 final.
Godín senior plays part in Messi letter
As it turns out, this news prompted then Uruguayan captain Diego Godín to write to Messi, urging him not to leave the Argentine fold, as recently revealed on TyC Sports.
“I was on the field, at my parents’ house. We had already been eliminated. We started talking. My father says to me, ‘How could he leave? What a shame.’
“He tells me, why not send him a message. ‘Do you think so?’ I hadn’t talked to him. What would he care about what I say? My father says to me, ‘You’re the captain of the national team, you face him... It might be good for a rival to tell him.’”
No Messi: “Football would lose”
Godín spoke to Luis Suárez, a close friend of Messi, asking him to provide his number so he could send him a message in order to change the decision made by the player.
“That’s when I asked Luis (Suárez) for the phone number. I told him what came to my mind, that he shouldn’t retire, that for my own interests I’d love for him not to play anymore, but that it would be football that would lose. It was a moment of emotion. We all wanted to see him play.”
In the end, Messi announced his return to the Albiceleste a little over a month after losing the Copa América Centenario final. The coach at that time, Edgardo Bauza, called him up for the September matches in the South American qualifiers for the World Cup in Russia.
Everything that transpired afterward is football history. Argentina, with the ‘Pulga’ as captain pulling the strings, won the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup.