Last call for Leo: Messi's 21 years with Argentina

Happy Monday, folks.

On Friday I promised you the full pour on Lionel Messi. Here it is. Tomorrow night, the most decorated player in soccer history pulls on an Argentina shirt for the last time, so today's edition is mostly his. Tissues are behind the bar.

Here's what's on tap today:

• 🐐 Messi's 21 years with Argentina, from a debut red card to 3 World Cup finals

• 🇺🇸 The USMNT go one better than dos a cero, and the rest of the weekend's results

• 🍺 A farewell beer with Leo himself

Let's pour.

🥃 TOP SHELF

Messi’s Last Tango

Tomorrow at 7pm ET, Lionel Messi plays for Argentina for the 208th and final time.

It's a friendly against Benin at the Más Monumental in Buenos Aires, and they're calling it "The Last Tango." About 85,000 tickets sold out in under two hours. Nobody bought one to see Benin.

Messi's Argentina career is a sports movie a studio would turn down for being too far-fetched. Picture the Buffalo Bills of the early '90s, losing big game after big game, except this time the quarterback comes back and wins it all.

Here's the whole thing in five chapters.

1. The kid who lasted less than a minute

Messi was a star before he ever played for the senior team, winning the 2005 U-20 World Cup and its best player award.

His senior debut came that August, in a friendly in Budapest. He came off the bench at 18, a Hungarian defender grabbed his shirt, and Messi swung an arm to shake him off. Straight red card, less than a minute in.

Picture your first NBA minute ending in an ejection. Not the start anyone ordered.

Three years later, he won Olympic gold in Beijing, beating Nigeria in the final. His first trophy in Argentina's colors.

2. Three finals, three hangovers

He'd already lost a Copa América final to Brazil at 20. The hardship continued.

2014: the World Cup final in Rio against Germany. Scoreless until the 113th minute, when Mario Götze won it for Germany. Messi won the Golden Ball for best player of the tournament, then had to walk right past the trophy he actually wanted.

2015: the Copa América final, South America's championship. Lost to Chile on penalties.

2016: the Copa América final again, this time at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Chile again, penalties again, and this time Messi missed his. He quit international soccer that night.

They built a bronze statue of him in Buenos Aires, and a whole country begged him to come back. He did.

3. The night in the mountains

By October 2017, Argentina were one game from missing their first World Cup since 1970. They needed a win in Quito, Ecuador, more than 9,000 feet up. They went behind after 38 seconds.

Messi scored a hat trick. Argentina qualified. His coach, Jorge Sampaoli, said afterwards that "football (soccer, we'll allow it) owes a World Cup to Messi."

4. The tab gets paid

It took four more years. In 2021, Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 in the Copa América final at the Maracanã, ending a 28-year wait for a major trophy.

In 2022 came the big one. The World Cup final against France in Qatar finished 3-3, Messi scored twice, and Argentina won on penalties. He became the first player to win the Golden Ball twice.

Then he won the 2024 Copa América, right here in the US, for good measure. Three major trophies in four years for the guy who supposedly "couldn't win with Argentina."

5. One more for the road

At the 2026 World Cup, Messi became the first player to play in six World Cups. He scored his first-ever World Cup hat trick against Algeria in Kansas City, and briefly became the tournament's all-time top scorer (until Kylian Mbappé passed him).

Eight goals and four assists later, Argentina were back in the final at MetLife. Spain won 1-0 in extra time against a 10-man Argentina.

That's the same New Jersey stadium where he scored a hat trick in a 4-3 win over Brazil in 2012, missed his penalty in 2016 and played his last World Cup final. If MetLife were a bar, he'd have his own stool and a list of complaints.

The final tab

207 games and 125 goals, both Argentina records. 65 assists, the most in men's international soccer. One World Cup, two Copa Américas, an Olympic gold and five lost finals. Not bad for a guy who got sent off in his first game.

🗣️ SOUND LIKE A REGULAR

"GOAT"

/ɡoʊt/ 🔊

noun · soccer

1. Definition: Short for "Greatest Of All Time." It's the title reserved for the best ever at something, whether that's a sport, a position or a single skill. In soccer, it's usually Messi or Ronaldo, depending on who's buying the round.

2. Origin: Muhammad Ali called himself "The Greatest," and in 1992 his wife Lonnie formed G.O.A.T. Inc. to manage his name. LL Cool J's 2000 album G.O.A.T. made it mainstream. Merriam-Webster officially added it in 2018.

USED IN A SENTENCE

"Sent off on his debut, three straight finals lost, and still Argentina's all-time top scorer. Ronaldo fans can argue all night, but tomorrow 85,000 people in Buenos Aires are toasting their GOAT."

🗞️ THE WEEKLY TAP-IN…

The week's international results

No Premier League over the weekend again, so here's how the international games went.

USA 3-0 Mexico: On Friday, 52% of you voted for dos a cero. The USMNT went one better.

Julian Hall, 18, scored his third goal in three games. Then Cavan Sullivan (who we toasted with an orange juice last Monday) pounced on a sloppy pass from Mexico's goalkeeper to become, at 17 years and five days, the youngest scorer in USMNT history. That breaks the record Mathis Albert set against Chile last week.

Malik Tillman added a third after another Mexican mistake, and Mexico finished with 10 men. It was Mauricio Pochettino's first win over Mexico, and Rafa Márquez's first loss as their coach. Yes, the headbutt guy from Friday.

Croatia 0-7 England: The heaviest defeat in Croatia's history. Harry Kane, England's captain and record scorer, got two to reach 89 England goals. Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka also scored twice, and Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham ran the show.

Spain 3-1 Czechia: Lamine Yamal, Spain's 19-year-old winger, scored an early stunner and was rested at halftime.

Portugal 2-1 Norway: Gonçalo Ramos, the striker who replaced Cristiano Ronaldo, scored the winner again.

Elsewhere: France drew 1-1 with Italy, Argentina beat Burkina Faso 7-0 without Messi, and Brazil beat India 4-0 in Kolkata. Scotland won 2-0 in North Macedonia as captain Andy Robertson won his 100th cap. Ireland drew 1-1 with Israel. And San Marino, Friday's underdog, lost 4-0 to Belarus. The wait goes on.

What's left this week

The international break ends tomorrow, and the Premier League is back Saturday. All times ET.

France vs Belgium (2:45pm, today): First vs. second in the group. Zinedine Zidane's France are unbeaten in his first three games.

England vs Czechia (2:45pm, Tuesday): At Wembley. Kane can draw level with Peter Shilton's England record of 125 caps.

Croatia vs Spain (2:45pm, Tuesday): Croatia get the world champions three days after shipping seven. Spain haven't lost in over 40 games. I feel for you, lads.

Argentina vs Benin (7pm, Tuesday): Messi's last game. It's streaming on ViX and Prime Video in the US.

USA vs Canada (8pm, Tuesday): In St. Paul, Minnesota, on TNT, truTV and HBO Max. Canada, coached by American Jesse Marsch, have won the last two meetings. But no US team, men's or women's, has ever conceded a goal at Allianz Field.

Tuesday is a two-screen night.

Meanwhile, the other GOAT

On Friday, I told you Cristiano Ronaldo had walked out of Portugal's camp after being benched.

Portugal haven't missed him on the scoreboard. They won both games without him, and after Sunday's win, coach Jorge Jesus finally addressed it: "If he wants to, he'll return to the national team." The head of Portugal's federation called it a misunderstanding to be resolved.

The awkward part? Jesus coached Ronaldo at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, and admitted he only took that job because Ronaldo invited him. Imagine LeBron getting benched by a coach he recruited.

Ronaldo, 41, has promised to tell "the truth" about his exit. He hasn't yet. Portugal's next games are November 14 and 17.

One GOAT gets 85,000 people and a custom shirt on Tuesday. The other is deciding whether to come back at all.

🍻 HAVE A BEER WITH…

Lionel Messi

Club and country: Inter Miami and Argentina (until Tuesday)

What to watch for this week: Argentina vs Benin, Tuesday at 7pm ET, cap number 208. Argentina's 2022 World Cup winners are reportedly invited back for the send-off. Then it's back to Inter Miami, where he's on pace for a third straight MLS MVP.

Fun Fact: The starting right back the night of that debut red card in 2005? Lionel Scaloni, now Argentina's head coach. The man sending Messi out for his last game played in his first.

Toast: A Michelob Ultra, the beer he orders in his first-ever Super Bowl ad before getting distracted by a beach pickup game with Ted Lasso's Jason Sudeikis and Dolphins legend Dan Marino. He's earned a light one.

Follow him here: @leomessi

🔥 HOUSE SPECIALS

⚽ Goal of the week: Cavan Sullivan picked off the keeper's pass and chipped it in from 35 yards.

🎉 Fanzone: Croatia vs England was behind closed doors, except for more than 6,000 local schoolkids let in to watch. They saw a 7-0. Tough first game.

📅 On this day: October 5, 1993: an 18-year-old Robbie Fowler scored all five goals as Liverpool beat Fulham 5-0 in the League Cup.

🐣 Underdog corner: Greece followed their first-ever win over Germany by holding them 0-0 on Sunday, and they're level at the top of the group.

👕 Wardrobe watch: Messi's farewell shirt swaps the Adidas logo for his own "M," with a gold No. 10 sitting on Argentina's Sun of May.

📊 Most clicked from Friday: Troy Parrott's solo goal against Austria.

That’s all, folks. Sláinte.