Messi's Debut. A Star is Born on the World Cup Stage

The stage of maturity and stability has ended, and Lionel Messi has become one of the most important talents in the world after he destroyed England's greats in their stronghold and exhausted La Liga's defenses in his first participation.

The international career with the national team began with the Youth World Cup and will end with the greatest possible scenario in history. In this article, we will talk about Messi’s first appearance in the World Cup and how he was able to steal the hearts of millions with one touch.

The Rosario boy is about to transform from the category of promising talents into one of the best first-class stars.

After Lionel Messi's great performance in the Spanish La Liga and the Champions League, he became the talk of the sports media and was crowned with the Golden Boy Award as the best talent.

Because of the attention of all European clubs and the Argentine national team, which was able to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the shocking news was that Messi was injured in the round of 16 matches against Chelsea. His injury prevented him from completing the season in which Barcelona achieved its second title as European Champions and the Spanish League title.

Rising Legend. Messi's Electrifying World Cup Debut

Unfortunately, the injury came at the wrong time, three months before the last and most important tournament of the season, the World Cup, in which it is widely expected that Messi, the best talent in the world, will participate.

The 2006 World Cup was a great competition between the biggest football stars at the time. Each team had a superstar and all hopes were pinned on it, such as Luís Figo, David Beckham, and Van Nistelrooy.

But the candidate that all eyes were on was Barcelona star No. 10, winner of the last Ballon d'Or, and he is the magician Ronaldinho, champion of the Spanish League and champion of the Champions League. He still has the World Cup title left to sit on the throne of the continent and win the second consecutive Golden Ball for the Samba national team.

As for the Argentine national team, the name that was on everyone’s tongue and all ambitions were based on it is Juan Roman Riquelme, an attacking midfielder who plays for Villarreal. He is distinguished by his calmness and decisive exercises that can end any match.

Indeed, Argentina coach Jose Pekerman decided that he would build the national team around Riquelme, and the style would depend mainly on him.

Messi was still considered a middle-class player, a young and talented player.

Fans described him as the new Maradona, and he was expected to have an impact after he proved himself on the international scene at Stamford Bridge.

Rising Legend. Messi's Electrifying World Cup Debut

Let's go back in time a little to Messi's legendary performance with the youth national team in the 2005 U-20 World Cup. He was called up to make his first appearance with the national team on August 17, 2005, in a friendly match against Hungary at the legendary France Puskas Stadium, Messi came on as a substitute in the 65th minute and was later sent off. 40 seconds after it came down.

What happened was that Messi received the ball and dribbled past the Hungarian player. The Hungarian player came back and pulled him by his shirt, so Messi raised his shield and punched Laura. Unfortunately, he was hit in the face and Messi was sent off in his first match with the national team.

A sudden and unexpected scenario. The young Argentine was expelled at the first opportunity, and then the coach Pekerman and his teammates tried to console him, but it was no use.

Sadness took over him and he remained silent all the time. By the way, this is Messi’s nature. He is shy and does not talk much.

But his shyness was interpreted incorrectly. He saw him as arrogant and arrogant, 18 years old and playing in Barcelona, the Champions League, and a big night. Logically, this silence could be understood as arrogance, and this was the first impression of Messi.

Messi is the complete opposite of that, and the situation continued like this for a period until he was called up to participate with the national team in the 2006 World Cup.

The good news is that he completely recovered from his injury in the Champions League, and the confidence of Albe Celeste fans was very high in him.

Even the legend Diego Maradona was one of the most loyal figures in Lionel Messi, and huge posters and pictures of him spread in the largest cities in the world.

For the first time, Messi appears happy and excited with the national team after his expulsion in the Hungary match.

He said in his statements before the tournament that Brazil, led by Ronaldinho, is truly the strongest candidate, but our team is also strong and we are certainly capable of winning the World Cup.

Argentina falls into a group called the Group of Death, which includes the Ivory Coast, the Netherlands, Serbia, and Montenegro. By the way, Serbia and Montenegro in this period were one team. The journey of tango will never be easy. The first match in the group stage was against Côte d'Ivoire. Unfortunately, five days before the match, Messi suffered a bruise in training, and this caused the coach to put him on the bench.

Because Messi watches from his place as his teammate Hernan Crespo scores his 30th goal with the national team and sees Riquelme perform a legendary assist for Saviola, who scores the second goal with one touch.

They resist and try, and in the end, Didier scores the goal to reduce the difference, and the first match in the groups ends with a score of 2-1.

Messi's First World Cup Appearance. The Dawn of a Legend

The Argentine national team appeared excellently, even despite Lionel not participating, and it was clear from coach Pekerman’s statements that he was very satisfied with the performance and level of his team so that he would field the same plan and formation in the second match against Serbia and Montenegro, meaning in short, Messi for the second time on the bench, not in the starting lineup.

In the 65th minute, during which Argentina scored three goals, we finally see Messi warming up on the line to appear for the first time in the World Cup. He comes in as a substitute for Maxi Rodriguez.

In the 74th minute, the moment of his entrance was very great. Maradona raised his hands in the sky as he shouted with the audience. An explosion and his joy in the stands make you feel that Maradona the one who went to play was not an 18-year-old man.

The team performed well, but since the score was 3-0, they started to relax, but after Lionel entered, the situation changed completely.

The playing performance became fast. Every ball that came to him was penetrated with it, and his goal was to reach the opponent’s goal.

Four minutes after arriving, he receives a quick, foul ball and moves to the north, reaches the goal line, raises his head, and makes a brilliant pass to Hernan Crespo, who extends his leg and scores the fourth goal. After the fifth goal from Tevez in the 84th minute, the match was about to end, and it was a major shame that Messi did not score in his first appearance.

Two minutes before the end of the match, Carlitos plays a through ball for Messi, who comes flying from the right, receives it, dribbles over the defender, scores his first goal in the tournament, and the stands explode with joy for the sixth goal.

A more than excellent start for Alpe Celeste in the World Cup, but what Messi did in his first match turned the world on Pekerman, the coach.

The fans and the press started attacking Pekerman. This is the one who sits on the bench and is down for the last quarter of an hour.

Why doesn’t Messi play the entire match?

The Spaniard, Pep Guardiola, came out in a statement and said that Pekerman is the only one who knows how to unleash all the abilities of this genius boy, and there is no doubt that Messi can play 90 minutes and perform at the same level that he showed in 15 minutes from the end. All parties were demanding that Pekerman have Messi start the matches as a player Basic.

The third group match against the Netherlands and Argentina qualifies for the round of 16. For this reason, Pekerman decided to get rid of the pressure from the public and the media and start with Messi and Tevez in the starting lineup.

At the same time, he rests Crespo and Saviola to avoid any yellow cards or any possibility of injuries that prevent them from participating in the knockout rounds, so all parties will be happy.

The fans' expectations are sky-high. Messi will play the match from the beginning. I wonder what he would do that night. He destroyed Serbia and Montenegro in 15 minutes, what if he played the entire 90 minutes?

Messi entered the first half as a right-wing, and the one who was assigned to watch him was Tim de Clare. He performed well, making passes and chances. During the first half, he lost the ball only once.

In the second half, Luing turns north and comes under the supervision of Q Yalins, and he can only touch the ball three times in 23 minutes, so in the 70th minute, Pekerman comes out and Julio Cruz enters, and the match ends in a goalless draw, with Albe Celeste leading their group.

Messi did not perform as expected of him and, as you say, he was a disappointment. Then the press hinted that Messi’s performance against the Netherlands was an excuse for Pekerman to return him to the bench again, and that is what happened.

On June 24, Messi turned 19 years old, and this was the date of the first match in the knockout rounds, round of 16, against Mexico. Messi was sitting on the bench until the 84th minute. This time, Argentina's performance was very bad. Messi came on as a substitute for Saviola, and the result was tied 1-1, and the match went to extra time.

Messi's World Cup Debut. The Beginning of Greatness

As usual, after the comes to Tempo, the match changes 180 degrees. He plays the ball to Juan Sorin, who sends it with a universal pass to Maxi Rodriguez, who receives it on his chest and crosses the net with a legendary John to decide the round of 16 for the Tango. Regardless of the poor performance presented by the team, Messi's decline was not significant, and he had a role in deciding the process of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

A few days later, it was time for the quarter-final match against the host country, Germany. The match lasted for a full 120 minutes, and I would like to tell you that Messi did not participate for even a single minute, and no one knows the reason, and it ended with a Manschaft victory after a penalty shootout, a great disappointment.

Why did the player who was able to decide it easily not participate and be on the bench? This is the question that was running through everyone’s mind at the time.

Why did Pekerman not bring Messi on?

I wonder what is the secret behind this matter? Pekerman started this match with Tevez instead of Saviola in the starting lineup, and Tevez performed well, so far, there is no problem.

However, in the 71st minute, Pekerman was forced to make the first substitution due to the injury of goalkeeper Roberto Abondazziri, and exactly a minute later, the second substitution occurred, which was the exit of Riquelme, who was tired, and he replaced Cambiasso, the defensive axis.

Pekerman is trying to balance and close down the defense because until this moment he is ahead with the goal scored by Roberto Ayala in the 49th minute.

The Germans began to press in the middle of the field very violently, and this made Pekerman make the final substitution, Julio Cruz came on for Crespo, but moments after the substitution, Miroslav Klose entered and scored the equalizing goal with his header.

Why did Julio Cruz come on in the final substitution, even though to get out of German pressure you need a fast, skilled player who has creativity who knows how to get you out from under this terrifying pressure, and Julio Cruz does not have enough skill to get out with the ball. The player who meets all these specifications is Messi. Everyone at the time agreed that if Messi had come in for Cruz, the match would have been decided before we even reached extra time.

Messi's First Steps on the World Cup Stage. A Legend in the Making

Ok, why did Pekerman not make Messi make the final substitution and prefer Cruz to him? Then Pekerman made a statement and said that we needed a striker in the penalty area, and Messi does not know how to do that, and to face the German national team, you need players with huge bodies trying to win Air games.

We were ahead by a goal, but the goalkeeper's injury ruined everything and destroyed the plan.

His statements were not convincing, and there was a lot of talk about this topic.

There was someone who said that Pekerman was wrong and did not know how to read the match correctly.

Some people said that he was affected by the pressure of senior players on him, such as Riquelme and Roberto Ayala, who felt that Messi would steal the spotlight from them and asked the coach not to share many reasons and expectations because after losing the championship, Jose Pekerman would resign from coaching the national team permanently.

That night, Messi almost did not appear in the cameras due to his disappointment and exit from the tournament, but after that, he wondered what he thought of what happened against Germany.

As usual, Messi was diplomatic in his response and did not attack his coach. He said, “The coach decided that the tournament was going this way, and his plan was successful, and the players performed well, like Saviola and Crespo.”

Despite Messi's infrequent appearance in the tournament, he was able to catch everyone's attention and gain their trust from his first touches.

Despite his exit in the quarter-finals against the Germans, Messi, who is 19 years old, gained a lot of experience at a young age.

Lionel has turned the page of the 2006 World Cup, but the writer of history is still opening his pages, ready to write lines of gold, O Messi, and we will return, O World Cup. The legendary 2005-2006 season, which witnessed the launch of Messi and his explosion in the greatest stadiums in the world, has ended, and Messi enters the second season with very high ambitions.