Hear
NEW JERSEY (special envoy).- Messi got used to living in the national team. In almost two decades, an entire country saw the captain cry, give up, enjoy and enjoy. Since he debuted in the senior squad in 2005 He spent half of his birthdays concentrated with his teammates. Today you will celebrate in privacy at the Hilton Short Hills of New Jerseywhere Scaloni’s team prepares the second game of this Copa América 2024.
Since he burst into Barcelona as a global figure, Messi was always summoned to the calls of all the coaches who were in charge of the albiceleste. And the date of his birthday, June 24, He coincided with the national team on a dozen occasions: four World Cups (plus a youth world cup, when he turned 18 in Holland) and six Copa América. This will be your seventh celebration while playing a continental tournament.
Germany 2006 It marked Messi’s World Cup debut. He played a total of three games and started one as a starter. There he scored his first goal, just entering the 6-0 win against Serbia and Montenegro. Eliminated on penalties against Germany in the quarterfinals, that World Cup was remembered for that young man with long hair sitting on the substitute bench who showed all his anger. Coach José Pekerman didn’t let him in for a minute that afternoon in Berlin.
The match before that elimination, Messi celebrated his 19 years on the field. In Leipzigin eastern Germany, the team defeated Mexico 2-1 in extra time with an unforgettable shot from Maxi Rodriguez. Messi came on in place of Saviola with five minutes remaining in regulation time. It was his best gift. The celebration took place at the Herzogenaurach concentration. The cake was shared by Riquelme, a figure from that generation who also celebrates the same day, although he is nine years older. There was a visit from relatives, a barbecue and former Nocheros Jorge Rojas sang. Lionel Scaloni was part of the squad.
The 20 years of the 10th they arrived in Venezuela during the preparation of the 2007 Copa América. It was four days before the debut against the United States. Argentina won 4-1 and Messi played the 90 minutes. In that competition, the team led by Basile lost 3-0 against Brazil in the final. It was the time of frustrations.
That June 24 in Maracaibo there was a quiet celebration with Riquelme. El Ten preferred to wait until he returned to celebrate his 20th in style. “The idea was to do it right away, when we returned. But, the truth is, at first I didn’t feel like doing anything,” He recounted the day that, a month later, he met up with his parents and friends at the bar. The Rosario Power Plant to dance to the rhythm of Grupo Cali.
In South Africa 2010 Maradona gave him all his trust: the aura of the 10 and he even once wore a captain’s ribbon. Leo played all five games, until losing in the quarterfinals, again against Germany. The image of the coach at the moment when he was comforting his heir remained like one of the postcards of that harsh elimination in Cape Town.
Two days after the victory against Greece in distant Polokwane came the 23rd birthday. His brothers went to look for him at the concentration at the University of Pretoria, Rodrigo and Matías. They took him to the condominium where they rented a house. They were waiting for him there Marisolhis younger sister, and Antonelahis childhood sweetheart.
A week before turning 24, Messi was preparing with the national team for the Copa America 2011, which was played in Argentina. That night he celebrated Madero Port along with her siblings, Antonela and her parents. What was an omen of good wishes turned into a nightmare: the team was defeated by Uruguay, in Santa Fe, in the quarterfinals; and a few days before, against Colombia (0-0), the captain received the greatest disapproval from the Argentine public. “They never screwed me so much,” recently recognized.
In 2014, Leo was a figure and driver of the team that reached the final. Despite playing better than Germany, he fell in extra time and was left without the World Cup. Ballon d’Or and four goals. Two of them he converted the day after his 27th birthday: against Nigeria to close the group, in Porto Alegre.
28 and 29 years old de la Pulga were in the preview of two great frustrations in the Copa América. And against the same rival, Chili. In Viña del Mar, in 2015, she blew out the candles at the Radisson Concón Hotel. Two days later, Argentina eliminated Colombia on penalties. In the final, luck was elusive from the 12 steps. The following year, in New Jersey, the team once again reached the final of the Copa América. His teammates organized the celebration for him two days before the definition. Defeat on penalties again. And that resignation of 10. I couldn’t find a way back from the frustration.
For the 31, the captain spent June 24 with his teammates in the Russian city of Bronnitsy, where Sampaoli’s team was stopping. Antonela and her children had stayed in Argentina. There was discreet cake with the number 31 in the concentration, where the spirit was not the best. The team had tied the first game with Iceland and the captain missed a penalty. On the second date came a categorical defeat against Croatia by 3-0. Then came the pass against Nigeria and the debacle against France, in the round of 16.
Sampaoli’s traumatic departure led to the ratification of one of his assistants to take charge of the team for the 2019 Copa América in Brazil. The era began Scaloni. After passing the group stage, Messi received almost his entire family in Porto Alegre to celebrate the 32 years. Antonela and her children, her brothers and her parents, Jorge and Celia, were there. A week later, the team was eliminated against Brazil in the semifinals. Argentina and its captain could not end the streak without titles.
In the 2021 Copa América, the one with masks and empty stadiums due to the pandemic, the man from Rosario was far from his affections. The team remained confined in Ezeiza, and during the tournament they traveled, played and returned to the AFA grounds. In the series of Netflix that portrayed that contest, Papu Gómez and Leandro Paredes remembered that 34th birthday. “We told the props to give us bags and we started putting anything in there. Then, each one arrived at Leo’s room with a different package and he didn’t expect it. We arrived with the pancake and then one with a deodorant, another with a perfume and there was even holy water. A bottle of holy water, toothpaste…”, they recalled. “I was already lying down, I wanted to go to sleep and all these appeared. “It was all nonsense…”Leo said.
Four days later he scored two goals against Bolivia in the group stage in a 4-1 victory. Hence, the path to consecration at the Maracaná and the beginning of a golden cycle that was crowned the following year in Qatar.
His last celebration was as world champion, in 2023. She spent it in Rosario, along with his family. On the previous night, the legend “Happy birthday, Leo” was projected on the Flag Monument. He lived his 36th birthday on the court where he always said he dreamed of playing since he was a child. It was at Maxi Rodríguez’s farewell. Several of Qatar’s champions were there. That night, the Newell’s fans He sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him.
“It has been a long time since I spent a birthday in Rosario, with my family and friends. He is the first to be world champion, so he is special too”said the captain.
