LIONEL Messi is currently the hottest footballer but his legendary status in the world of the beautiful game is not yet at par as that of Pele, Diego Maradona and Franz Bechenbauer.
His failure in his three attempts for Argentina to win the World Cup is the only reason why he has not reached the status of the three legends of the game.
In 2014, he almost led Argentina to the World Cup glory in Brazil but a great German team thwarted his ambition in the final.
Now at 30-years-old, Russia will be probably his last chance of winning the World Cup for Argentina. Although he is still on top form, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be farfetched for the five-time Fifa Ballon d’Or awardee.
The only problem now for Messi is that the Russian World Cup is still more than six months to go from today. Yes, Argentina has qualified but will Messi be fit by then. That is a million dollar question to be answered.
If Messi does not suffer any injury with Barcelona in La Liga, then Argentina will be heavily favored to win the World Cup. Just for Messi alone I will bet everything I own, (Although I don’t have much.) for Argentina win their third World Cup trophy.
Argentina’s World Cup qualifying campaign was not that easy though.
The Argentines have to endure a dismal qualifying campaign and waited for their last qualifying match against Ecuador to the become the fourth South American country to advance.
And who else lifted them? Messi of course. He scored a hat-trick to give the Albiceleste a 3-1 win over Ecuador. Peru later on completed the five South American countries to the World Cup after defeating New Zealand in the playoffs.
Now, I have picked my bet. Which country do you think will win the World Cup?
Here is the list of the countries which qualified.
AFRICA - Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, Senegal.
ASIA - Australia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Japan, South Korea.
EUROPE - Belgium, France, Portugal, Sweden, Croatia, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Denmark, Iceland, Serbia, England, Poland, Spain.
NORTH AMERICA - Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama.
SOUTH AMERICA - Argentina, Uruguay,Brazil, Columbia, Peru.
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