Why Messi's Argentina Never Win...

                    It's almost becoming a cliche now..."Miracle Messi" fails to lead his National team to victory again... World's best Footballer fails to display the same form for his nation, etc etc. And the comments are pretty obvious and simplistic. Just blame Messi for not being proud of his country, or where the Messi-worshipers are concerned, find faults with rest of the team or just blame the head-coach (In case of Maradona, I do agree with them, yeah!). But, I would hardly think the reasoning behind Argentina's failure is that simple. You just can't throw together some of the world's finest talents, and expect them to conquer everything, as Real Madrid keep finding out again and again.
             
                         Argentina have some incredible talents, alongside Messi, be it Tevez, Kun Aguero, Di Maria or Higuain. But, the major issue is Compatibility.Let Messi put any number of inch-perfect through-balls, the fact is Higuain and Tevez are simply not used to just wait on the shoulders of the last defender for such passes.Higuain plays an out and out Target Man for Real Madrid under Mourinho, in a role which lets him fight with the defenders. Carlos Tevez was the joint-top goalscorer in EPL last season, without a world-class play-maker in his team (David Silva returned to form pretty late in the season). Even Messi built his reputation as the world's Best, not only on his sleek passing, but also deadly finishing which saw him score an incredible 53 goals last season. But then, there's not a single play-maker in Argentine team, who can offer Messi the service that Xavi and Iniesta provide him at Camp Nou. Juan Roman Riquelme, the only one who could've done the duty, left the team after differences with the then-coach Maradona. His loss is huge to the Argentines, because it forces Messi to go even deeper to create chances for his team-mates, which deprives Argentina of one of the most brilliant finishers of the game.
               

Lionel Messi has won everything on offer in Barcelona colours

                  So what's the solution to the problem? Sergio Batista's attempt of trying to emulate Barcelona's formation was certainly worth applauding. But the truth, as the Argentine team found at their own expense, is that you can't adopt such philosophy in such a short span of time. The core of the Barcelona team have literally grown together playing with these tactics.You can't expect Tevez and Aguero, who play with not-so-great mid-fields behind them, to suddenly anticipate the mesmerizing passes from Messi. It doesn't make them bad players, but it's ultimately harming the team. If Argentina want Messi to exhibit his full potential, they have got to find a World-class creator, so that Messi can freely roam in his "False No. 9" role.Whether Javier Pastore is up to the task, remains to be seen.
           
                 Unless Riquelme agrees to return to the National squad, coach Batista may now be tempted to use  
an unconventional 4-1-2-1-2 instead of the rigid 4-4-2 we witnessed in the later stages of Copa America.With Mascherano acting as the defensive midfielder, Di Maria on the left wing, and Cambiasso or Rodriguez on the right, it will allow Messi to play a free roaming role  behind the striking duo Higuain and Tevez. If Batista still wants to make the 4-3-3 system work, he can have the midfield of Mascherano, Pastore and Cambiasso.Messi can have his Barcelona role of the Pseudo Centre-Forward, with Di Maria on the left and preferably Aguero on the right, as Tevez has already shown he's not exactly suited to play wide, while Higuain is only used to play as a Target man for Madrid.

                                                       Messi    
              Di Maria                                                                Aguero


                                                      Pastore
             Mascherano                                                           Cambiasso  


Zanetti                     G. Millito                      Burdisso                     Zabaleta


                                                      Romero


       This could be an Ideal setup, if Batista is to persist with 4-3-3


             In the mean-time, it's saddening to hear things like Messi doesn't really want to play for his national team. I mean, he hardly comes across as a money-hungry guy, does he? Yeah, he earns huge at Barcelona, but if he wished, he could earn even more, was he to switch to Real Madrid or Manchester City. But remaining with the topic, I feel people like Maradona and Grondona needlessly keep commenting about him just to stay in the news.I personally wonder why to call him Maradona's heir, when he's showcased himself as even better? He hardly cheats, doesn't have drugs issues, and scores even more goals. But, I think that's a different issue and people will have varied opinions.Getting back to national team, I do hope, despite being a Seleção for life, that Argentina do manage to find the perfect formation to make optimum use of the awesome talents they've got. For even if only to bury the "Maradona's heir" ghost that sits on his neck, I would love to see Messi finally make Argentina proud.