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Following Brazil-Mexico pre-quarter final match, USA Today published a report with the following headline: “For all his talent, Neymar is an embarrassment to soccer.”
The article further elaborates by saying that “you know the ones, where he gives a bloodcurdling shriek that points to mortal peril. Or writhes on the ground, squirming as if his organs are shutting down and his capacity for normal function has left him. Only to find himself, moments later, back on his feet and sprinting at full tilt.
A newcomer to the sport must marvel that he has remarkable powers of recovery. He doesn’t, of course.”
But despite his antics, he delivers on the pitch with the yellow Brazilian jersey.
Not only has he become the third highest goal scorer for Brazil behind legendary Pele and Ronaldo, his success rate as a player with the national team is second to none. Brazil has had a success rate of 71 percent whenever Neymar has been part of the starting line-up.
Lionel Messi, on the other hand, comes across as a picture-perfect player – most gifted yet least flamboyant, subdued in celebration and a total team player who is never seen to be placing “I” before the team. Despite his prodigious skill, his national Argentinian side suffered a humiliating defeat against inexperienced France in the World Cup pre-quarter final last week. With this loss, his dream of becoming the world champion is all but over.
As opposed to his impeccable record with the star studded Spanish football club Barcelona, his association with the national team has been nothing but ordinary, with a success rate of mere 60 percent.
And on this count, he is different from his legendary predecessor and supremely talented fellow countryman Diego Maradona and contemporary Neymar. But why?
Michel Platini, himself a gifted midfielder and acclaimed Football French star of his time, is reported to have once highly praised Maradona.
He won the World Cup almost single-handedly for Argentina and inspired a nondescript Italian club Napoli to the pinnacle of success at the club level.
Controversial affairs, drug abuse, expulsion mid-day through the 1994 World Cup because of failed dope test and unwarranted statements at times – these are some of things that took the sheen away from Maradona’s superstardom. But despite his seeming personal flaws, he had the exceptional gift of inspiring a team of mediocre players.
Was his anti-hero persona the reason? Was his ‘I don’t give a damn as long as results are coming my way’ trait that produced exceptional results even with ordinary teams? Is Neymar modelling himself on Maradona to produce the same kind of results?
Neymar is known to lead a flashy lifestyle, very much like a Hollywood superstar. And his antics on the pitch has invited more derision than adulation. But he has been effective and has produced results for Brazil.
Like a failed penalty kick in the opening match against Iceland this time. And he failed to convert a spot kick in the 2016 Copa America final as well. Is he too normal to handle pressure and expectations of millions of fans?
Messi comes across as someone who comes closest to the skill Maradona possessed. He is capable of matching Maradona’s FIFA goal of the century. He has scored many memorable goals for Barcelona. But the fact that he has delivered very little for Argentina definitely calls for some attention.
Perhaps a lesson from the life of “flawed genius” (one headline of a leading website called him just that) called Diego Maradona would have helped him handle pressure and expectations. And Neymar’s antics? Perhaps, as diversionary tactics.
I don’t know how fans and critics would have reacted to Messi’s antics if he had ever attempted any.
(For complete FIFA World Cup 2018 coverage, click here to visit our special WC page)
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