Maybe Lionel Messi really meant it. Maybe he won’t change his mind. Perhaps this is really is it at international level for a generational talent who finally just got sick of it all.
Whatever the state of Messi’s tortured soul right now, for the sake of soccer and sports in general, let’s hope not.
Messi’s Sunday was about as bad as it gets if you are a soccer genius without compare.
He was frustrated along with his teammates, at the incompetent travel arrangements Argentina’s national federation had put together that caused delays and left them fatigued ahead of the Copa America final.
He was frustrated with himself for his inability to crack the code of Chile defense during 120 minutes that ended scoreless. And frustrated with a level of refereeing that belonged in a pub league.
All that annoyance built up into one kick that sailed high into the New Jersey night, put Argentina on the back foot in the shootout, and contributed to costing them the title.
Messi couldn’t take it anymore. Asked in the immediate aftermath of his fourth defeat in a major international tournament final that infernal question of “What now?” his reaction was blunt.
“That's it,” he said. “It's over for me with the national team. It's not for me. The decision has been made. I think so. [Winning] is what I wanted most. It didn't come. I think that's it. That's how I feel now, what I think. It's a great sadness. It hurts not to be a champion.”
That was Messi unfiltered, speaking without any of the public relations sheen that every top athlete has hammered into them these days. He was sick of it all.
Playing for Argentina is not much fun for him. The federation is a joke, corrupted by utter mismanagement so shambolic that FIFA had to assume control last week. Talk about the lunatics taking over the asylum.
It is not much fun because for years his countrymen have questioned his commitment, said he is more Catalan than Argentinean after most of his life in Barcelona, even when tears streamed down his face at the World Cup and the last Copa America and again on Sunday.
And it is not much fun because Argentina seem to keep contriving ways to let major silverware slip away. The nation has not won a big one since 1993. A 23-year wait is remarkable enough for a place that breathes soccer success, but even more so because no gold has been collected during Messi’s career.
And so, he was done, done with it all, ground down by the frustrations and the annoyances and the barbs and his own failings. While Messi will continue to play for Barcelona, so ended an extraordinary international career.
Or did it? As much as we love to watch Messi for the trickery and the silky skills and the impish runs and the cheeky, boy-like, carefree way with which he performs, it is easy to forget just how much of a competitor he is.
Just because he doesn’t snarl and bristle doesn’t mean he is soft or uncaring. The fire burns deep within. It has to, to have driven him to this level of excellence and to have conjured the finest performances on the grandest of stages.
Messi is not the kind of character to give up on a dream, however much pain falls at his feet and when a few more tears have been shed and the dust of the Copa disaster settles, a new reality may set in.
He will surely be back, not because soccer needs him and craves his presence at events like the 2018 World Cup. No, it will be because he will find he needs this.
Maybe it will be a turning point, that painful night at the Meadowlands. Even the neutrals must hope so, for this little man with the delicate footwork deserves to know what it is like to bring his country triumph.
Maybe not, maybe more nights of misery await and his international legacy is to be one of the tragic hero.
But either way, expect to find out. Expect common sense to set in. Expect an about turn, maybe not yet, but before too long.
For Lionel Messi is many things, to soccer, to culture, to his country, but he is not a quitter.
