Three reasons why FIFA was right not to nominate Lionel Messi for the BEST Award
After missing out on the top three for the UEFA Best Men's Player award for the third time in the last five seasons, Messi was also snubbed in the three-man shortlist for the The Best FIFA Men's Player award, marking the first time he would fail to make the top three of a FIFA award since 2007.
As expected, the decision is a controversial one, which did not sit well with a lot of people, and fans of the Argentine took to social media to express their shock and displeasure over his omission.
The 31-year-old Messi has been one of the most consistent performers over the last decade, and he along with Ronaldo totally changed the narrative and yardstick used in measuring player perfomance, so it is a no-brainer that the Argentine record goalscorer has a plethora of fans defending his omission.
A lot of stats and figures have been floated around on both the mainstream and social media ridiculing FIFA's decision, and although there is some merit to their claim, it is just surface scratching. A closer look beneath would show that anyone who believes Messi should have been nominated is not being rational.
It must be stated that this writer has the utmost respect for everything Messi has achieved in his career, places him in the highest esteem, and considers him to be the greatest player he has ever watched. However, individual awards reward individual performances for a given year in review, and by account of his performance last season, Lionel Messi was sub-standard.
While it would be foolhardy to suggest that Lionel Messi is on a decline, as he has shown an innate ability to constantly reinvent himself, what cannot be denied is that he has dropped off somewhat from his previous heights.
There is still no other player who can match Messi's performance level apart from arguably Ronaldo, but FIFA excluding him from its nominees for the FIFA Best awards is totally spot on. Here are three reasons why Messi did not deserve to be nominated for the FIFA Best Award.
#3 He had a poor World Cup campaign
It's been 25 long years since the Argentina national team last won a title, with the Gabriel Batistuta inspired Copa America triumph of 1993 being their last major piece of silverware. Going further back, it's been a whopping 32 years since La Albiceleste lifted the World Cup through the feet and hand of Diego Maradona.
To put this in perspective, the rebranded Champions League was just a season in when the country last tasted international glory, while Messi himself hadn't been born to witness Maradona's greatness.
In that time, arch-rival Brazil has lifted ten trophies, including two World Cups, and for a country of Argentina's standing, it is extremely painful living through this drought.
A lot of near misses have been experienced over the years, with the recent spell of three consecutive final defeats between 2014 and 2016 being the most recent.
The country's fanatical followership of football means that it is one of the premier production line for football talent, and some of the greatest players in history have come from the land of Latin Silver.
Diego Maradona is by far Argentina's favorite son, and his exploits at the 1986 World Cup saw him immortalized in the annals of Argentine football. Over the years, there have been quite a number of Argentine wonderkids dubbed the 'next Maradona' including Ariel Ortega, Juan Roman Riquelme and Javier Saviola. However, all those largely failed to live up to the hype until the arrival of a certain Lionel Messi.
There is more than an uncanny similarity in the pair's style of play, as their low center of gravity and close control made wriggling out of tight spaces and bamboozling defenders come as second nature to them.
Two of Maradona's most famous or infamous (depending on which side of the divide you are) goals were also reenacted by Messi, with his zigzagging run past Getafe players bearing an eerie similarity to Maradona's 'goal of the century' against England. There was also a bit of infamy in the 'hand of God' incident by Messi in a La Liga clash against Espanyol.
All of these factors made Argentines see it as destiny for Maradona's successor to be the one to lead them to world glory once more. However, the script has not gone according to plan in his four World Cup outings till date.
Being too young at 19 to influence proceedings, Lionel Messi was largely a squad member and ineffectual in Argentina's quarter-final exit to hosts Germany at his first World Cup.
Four years later, at 23, and coached by his predecessor, people believed the time was right for Argentina to end its World Cup wait, in what would have been the perfect fairytale story; the new Messiah leading his country to the promise land under the guidance of his mentor. However, those dreams also died out at the same stage to the same opponents in an embarrassing 4-0 defeat, with Messi failing to score a goal. Once more, Argentina's new favorite son had failed to deliver.
Heading into 2014, not much was expected from Argentina owing to their recent underperformance, but defying all odds, the team rallied to the final where hopes were raised before a 113th-minute winner by Mario Gotze sunk Argentine hearts once more. Lionel Messi was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player, however, that was scant consolation as his distress was obvious for all to see.
Three years later, standing on the brink of failing to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1970, Lionel Messi rose to the occasion and delivered a performance for the ages, scoring a hattrick in Ecuador to send his country to the World Cup.
There were joyous scenes in the land, and fans believed this represented the last chance for a brilliantly gifted crop of 'Golden Generation' players led by Messi to finally achieve something.
The World Cup, however, served a different narrative, as Argentina struggled to qualify from a group containing Croatia, Iceland and Nigeria, which they were expected to top, needing a last-gasp victory over Nigeria and a Croatia victory over Iceland to secure passage into the second round and a tie with eventual champions France.
What was even more appalling was Messi's AWOL performance at the World Cup. He was a virtual passenger in the group opener against Iceland, missing a penalty, and then unjustifiably put in a worse showing in the 3-0 mauling by Croatia.
He half turned up against Nigeria, scoring the opener against the Africans with what was to prove his only goal of the campaign.
In the second-round clash with France, Kylian Mbappe was the star of the show, as Argentina became the first country to be eliminated from the round of 16 in Russia. Lionel Messi was ineffectual throughout the match, and only had a sniffle of dictating proceedings in the final 15 minutes of the match after Didier Deschamps had substituted key players and Les Bleus had taken their feet off the pedal.
The FIFA award has traditionally recognized performances in a World Cup campaign, and with Lionel Messi's sub-standard showing at the Mundial, he is not deserving of a place on the podium for the FIFA Best Player award.