Only 5-feet-7-inches tall, Lionel Andrés “Leo” Messi towers above all rivals on the world’s soccer fields.
Just as Michael Jordan soared higher and farther than anybody on a basketball court in his Chicago Bulls career, Messi draws comparison to the greatest competitors in team sports history.
“I think he’s the best player that’s ever played,” says retired U.S. World Cup star and northwest suburban native Brian McBride. “He’s changed the way people look at how you can do things with the ball at your feet.”
Messi has come to town, and it will be like Christmas in June for Chicago’s soccer fans when he and the other stars of Argentina’s national team play Friday at Soldier Field.
Nicknamed “La Pulga” (Spanish for “The Flea”) the wispy Messi is expected to overcome a recent minor injury to captain Argentina in a Copa America matchup against Panama.
Although he played three years ago in an exhibition game at Soldier Field, the game on Friday provides an unprecedented chance to see the five-time world player of the year in competitive action in Chicago.
Messi missed Argentina’s win against Chile in its tournament debut Monday in Santa Clara, California, because he suffered a blow to the back last month. But he practiced Wednesday in Chicago and reportedly is ready to play again in Argentina’s iconic sky blue and white striped jersey.
Messi mesmerizingly dribbles as if the ball were attached to his feet. He has a unique talent for both conjuring scoring chances for teammates and finishing attacks with precise shots.
“You’ll just be amazed how he is at the top of every aspect of what you want as a soccer player, except maybe heading,” says McBride, an ESPN soccer analyst who scored in two World Cups and also played in the English Premier League and for the Chicago Fire.
Despite being short and slightly built, Messi pings away from defenders who try to employ the fútbol version of “hack-a-Shaq” against his slaloming dribbles.
“He rides a tackle better than anybody I’ve ever seen,” McBride says. “I hear people say, ‘I can’t get into soccer — there’s a lot of diving.’ I get that. But you certainly won’t see that from Lionel Messi.”
Messi left his homeland at 13 to join the powerful FC Barcelona team, which paid for treatments for his growth-hormone deficiency. Now 28, Messi has led the club to eight Spanish championships and four European Champions League titles. He has scored more than 450 goals for Barcelona since his 2004 debut.
For his native land, he’s scored another 50 goals in international games. Yet, the two-time World Cup winners have not won a major title in decades. Argentina lost to Germany in overtime in the last World Cup final, in 2014.
Unless Messi helps break the drought, he can’t indisputably eclipse all-time greats Pelé or Diego Maradona, who led Argentina to its last World Cup crown 30 years ago.
That’s what makes this summer’s Copa America crucial for Messi. The tournament is the championship of South America, which produces more stars of the world’s favorite sport than any other place.
Moreover, the tournament is being played for the first time in the U.S. this year, to celebrate the Copa America’s centennial. Besides the 10 South American countries that always compete, the special-edition “Copa America Centenario” also involves the U.S. (which kept hopes alive with a 4-0 rout of Costa Rica Tuesday at Soldier Field), Mexico, Panama and three other national squads from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
So this year’s winner essentially can claim to be the best team in the Western Hemisphere. It’s the highest-level soccer in our country since the U.S. hosted the World Cup for the only time 22 years ago.
With a win against Panama, Messi and Argentina can clinch a quarterfinal spot. Their fans, including many immigrants now in the Chicago area, likely will dominate a big, loud crowd.
“I’m very proud, especially because he’s from my hometown,” said Alejandra Morán, a Rosario native who owns the Sí! Communications firm in Chicago and has Argentina-Panama tickets.
Say you’re from Argentina to most anybody around the world, and chances are they’ll talk about Messi — just as saying you’re from Chicago often leads people to mention Michael Jordan.
Among contemporary Argentine icons, Pope Francis alone compares to Messi in the eyes of compatriots, Morán says. She lauds the soft-spoken Messi for his humility and charitable contributions to Rosario.
“Having Messi and the pope help elevate our presence in the world,” she says of her homeland.
Now, crafty little Leo Messi is putting Chicago more prominently on the soccer globe than at any moment since Soldier Field hosted the opening game of the 1994 World Cup.
