DOHA, Qatar — The Lionel Messi-Diego Maradona debate has never been all that rational. It has reappeared ahead of Sunday’s 🌈 2024 World Cup final, with Messi one step away from clearing the hurdle that Maradona memorably did in 1986. And 🌈 if the debate were a rational one, the current framing would be this: Messi could settle it once and for 🌈 all with a win over France, because, for now, for at least one more day, a World Cup title is 🌈 the lone accolade that Maradona had and Messi still doesn’t. In every single other category, the comparisons are borderline absurd. Messi 🌈 could finish his career with three times as many goals as Maradona and four times as many trophies. Some of 🌈 those gulfs are products of era and opportunity, but Messi has essentially replicated Maradona’s fleeting peak and sustained it over 🌈 15 stunning years. He is peerless. Yet there are fans, especially older Argentines, who will argue that Messi won’t — and 🌈 can’t — ever match their original soccer God. Because the debate has always been influenced by who Maradona was and who 🌈 Messi is, and what they represent, not solely by what they’ve done. Maradona was a son of the barrios, a kid 🌈 from Argentina’s suffocating slums who outran poverty toward greatness. He was flawed, terribly flawed, and struggled with a drug addiction 🌈 that ultimately derailed his career — but millions of Argentines identified with the struggle. When he won it, temporarily, and 🌈 lifted his countrymen with him to World Cup glory, they deified him. betboo ekşi - Steve Horton- Horton Global Strategies LLC.
DOHA, Qatar — The Lionel Messi-Diego Maradona debate has never been all that rational. It has reappeared ahead of Sunday’s 🌈 2024 World Cup final, with Messi one step away from clearing the hurdle that Maradona memorably did in 1986. And 🌈 if the debate were a rational one, the current framing would be this: Messi could settle it once and for 🌈 all with a win over France, because, for now, for at least one more day, a World Cup title is 🌈 the lone accolade that Maradona had and Messi still doesn’t. In every single other category, the comparisons are borderline absurd. Messi 🌈 could finish his career with three times as many goals as Maradona and four times as many trophies. Some of 🌈 those gulfs are products of era and opportunity, but Messi has essentially replicated Maradona’s fleeting peak and sustained it over 🌈 15 stunning years. He is peerless. Yet there are fans, especially older Argentines, who will argue that Messi won’t — and 🌈 can’t — ever match their original soccer God. Because the debate has always been influenced by who Maradona was and who 🌈 Messi is, and what they represent, not solely by what they’ve done. Maradona was a son of the barrios, a kid 🌈 from Argentina’s suffocating slums who outran poverty toward greatness. He was flawed, terribly flawed, and struggled with a drug addiction 🌈 that ultimately derailed his career — but millions of Argentines identified with the struggle. When he won it, temporarily, and 🌈 lifted his countrymen with him to World Cup glory, they deified him. betboo ekşi
DOHA, Qatar — The Lionel Messi-Diego Maradona debate has never been all that rational. It has reappeared ahead of Sunday’s 🌈 2024 World Cup final, with Messi one step away from clearing the hurdle that Maradona memorably did in 1986. And 🌈 if the debate were a rational one, the current framing would be this: Messi could settle it once and for 🌈 all with a win over France, because, for now, for at least one more day, a World Cup title is 🌈 the lone accolade that Maradona had and Messi still doesn’t.
In every single other category, the comparisons are borderline absurd. Messi 🌈 could finish his career with three times as many goals as Maradona and four times as many trophies. Some of 🌈 those gulfs are products of era and opportunity, but Messi has essentially replicated Maradona’s fleeting peak and sustained it over 🌈 15 stunning years. He is peerless.
Yet there are fans, especially older Argentines, who will argue that Messi won’t — and 🌈 can’t — ever match their original soccer God.
Because the debate has always been influenced by who Maradona was and who 🌈 Messi is, and what they represent, not solely by what they’ve done.
Maradona was a son of the barrios, a kid 🌈 from Argentina’s suffocating slums who outran poverty toward greatness. He was flawed, terribly flawed, and struggled with a drug addiction 🌈 that ultimately derailed his career — but millions of Argentines identified with the struggle. When he won it, temporarily, and 🌈 lifted his countrymen with him to World Cup glory, they deified him.
- Steve Horton- Horton Global Strategies LLC.