When Tocalli, Ferraro and Zabaleta saw Leo in the meeting prior to the side’s departure for Holland, they discovered a new Messi compared to the one of four months earlier. ‘We noticed a huge development in those months,’ remembers Pancho Ferraro, who would be the only coach of the Under 20s. ‘We noticed a Leo in much better physical shape,’ recalls Hugo Tocalli. ‘He was better armed. He was more resilient. We couldn’t forget that he was at Barcelona and he came to us with evidence of all the work he had done there on his physique, tactics and technique.’
He had taken another great leap forward, this time physically. At almost 18, he was 1.69 metres tall and weighed 64 kilos.
This was the Argentina squad for that tournament:
Goalkeepers: Oscar Ustari, Nicolas Navarro, Nereo Champagne
Defenders: Lautaro Formica, Gustavo Cabral, Julio Barroso, Ezequiel Garay, David Abraham
Midfielders: Juan Manuel Torres, Gabriel Paletta, Lucas Biglia, Pablo Zabaleta, Patricio Pérez, Emiliano Armenteros, Rodrigo Archubi, Fernando Gago, Neri Cardozo
Forwards: Sergio Agüero, Gustavo Oberman, Pablo Vitti, Lionel Messi
‘I like watching European football very much,’ remembers Gustavo Oberman. ‘Leo had made his debut with the Barcelona first team but he didn’t play a lot. I knew that. We’d seen him in the Sudamericano tournament, even though he’d had a lot of physical problems during that time, but the truth is, in the games he appeared in he earned the admiration of everyone: team-mates, press … They all said: is this the successor to Diego? Because at that time everyone was waiting for a successor to Maradona, someone that would fight him for his crown. We spoke about this among ourselves.’
Forty days of planning took place under the aegis of ‘Professor’ Salorio. He brought along books and films, invented new educational games and tried to spring surprises on his team every day to keep them motivated. But Salorio knew that the first hours were crucial; that’s when the pieces begin to fall into place, when personalities are studied, when people recognise each other, choose each other’s company.
Sergio Agüero, ‘el Kun’, the same age as Leo and from Independiente, wasn’t one for watching television or watching league matches that weren’t Argentinian, or for getting involved on the internet. He hadn’t paid much attention when Leo was being spoken of as the great prospect from Barcelona. During that first morning the group were at table having a meal together. Messi to the right of Agüero, and to the left of him Formica. Garay was facing them. They began to talk about football boots and Leo commented that a new boot had just come out in the USA, and stuff like that. Kun looked at him. And then he looked at him again. He asked himself, who is he? He had to find out.
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What’s your name?
‘I said this to Leo,’ Agüero recalls now, ‘and Leo remembers, eh!! He pisses himself laughing now. So … he looked at me and said “Lionel”, “Oh – I said – almost like me. And your surname?” “Messi,” he said. And of course I thought, “fine”, and then Formica looks at me. “What?” I say. “What?? You don’t know who that is?” Afterwards I began to realise that I had heard about some player from Barcelona and thought to myself, “Oh, it’s him.”
‘Of course that was when we were eating,’ remembers Agüero laughing. ‘Later, when we were training, I said, “this guy flies”. And after that we used to piss ourselves laughing together, we got on really well and got together to room-share.’
Yes, they shared a room in that tournament. ‘I created the Kun–Messi mini society,’ explains Gerardo Salorio. ‘Why? For two reasons: they were the youngest with similar tastes (they were both brilliant at PlayStation) and also I thought I could prepare a double act for the future of Argentinian football.’
Marcelo Roffé, the Argentinian youth squad’s psychologist, agreed with Salorio’s decision because Messi and Agüero, who had not been at the Sudamericano, found themselves in very similar situations. José Pekerman and the federation saw the need for someone to get close to the boys and help them to express their feelings at an age when everything was quite confusing for them, hence the presence of a psychologist from that tournament onwards. ‘Afterwards, some of them had to improve their concentration, the way they handled pressure, made decisions, their feelings of anxiety before the game,’ says Roffé. ‘There is always prejudice about my job. But they realised that this could be useful to them and so it turned out.’
Leo and Kun became everyone’s kids, principally because they were the smallest. And sometimes, with their physical size and that look of innocence, despite the fact that they were both 17 they seemed much more childlike than they really were. ‘I remember the first night we heard strange noises, it was half past four in the morning, I was half asleep when the telephone rang,’ Salorio remembers. ‘I told them that I did not want them to receive any calls in the room from anybody, family or press, that all calls should come through me. I picked up the phone and it was Kun: “I’m scared, I can hear noises …” And I said, “Go to sleep, you pain in the arse, nothing’s happening!” Of course, he was a baby, he heard noises and he was frightened.’
Oberman, who hadn’t considered himself a starter, is another of those reserved footballers who finds it difficult to open up to people he doesn’t know, something typical of those early days in the team gatherings. ‘I think Leo is the same,’ says the forward, now at Quilmes. ‘I was new and it was difficult for me to approach him or ask him about his life, because I didn’t know him, but day by day you saw that he was just a normal lad, who didn’t try to stick out, didn’t raise his voice, minded his own business, didn’t boast or make fun of you. A very normal boy managing, what for us, or for anyone, would be something very difficult to cope with – he was playing for the best team in the world but was happy to step down and play at Under 20 level. That is not something just anyone can do, it isn’t easy to go down a level.’
Leo wanted to win games with Argentina. Now that he was immersed in the dynamic of the national team, he wasn’t about to let anyone take him away from it. He felt that, after the early gift of a place in the Sudamericano, he was where he ought to be, that this was his level. So the earlier he could make his mark, the better.
The first game to be played was against the USA. With the group in the Arke Stadium’s dressing room, Pancho Ferraro, having covered the blackboard with numbers, began to call out the names: ‘number one Ustari, two Cabral, three … and the forwards Vitti and Oberman.’
Messi was left on the bench.
Group stage
Argentina vs USA
11 June 2005, Arke Stadium, Enschede
Attendance: 10,500
Referee: Terje Hauge (Norway)
Three days before the start of the championship it became clear that José Sosa was going to start up front with Vitti. Then, in training, he took a pass and as he struggled to control the ball he lost his balance and fell awkwardly, his arm twisting painfully. He was clearly injured and as the shocked team came to terms with his injury, Ferraro decided to abandon the session. Walking towards the dressing rooms Daniel Martínez, the team doctor, approached him. ‘Pancho, keep an eye on Leo, he has a slight hamstring strain but nothing to be too concerned about.’
Shortly afterwards, everyone’s worst fears were confirmed. Sosa’s wrist was fractured. Patricio Pérez of Vélez was called up to the squad. The press screamed that Leo was going to replace Sosa as enganche, in the hole behind the striker. Despite his age, Messi was, they said, along with Zabaleta, Gago and Biglia, one of the best players in the squad.
‘I thought, “he will play Messi with Vitti”,’ says Oberman. ‘I wasn’t playing much in the youth teams, I’d only been involved in three friendlies. I’d had a good championship in the first division, and I thought that I’d be included in the list of 21, and once that was confirmed I was pleased. I never thought I’d be a starter. Afterwards, when we arrived at the world championships and I saw my team-mates, I thought it was going to be it was going to be h
ard to be in the line-up.’
‘I thought about it,’ says Pancho Ferraro, ‘and I said, “Leo can go on the bench and if I need him, I’ll put him on in the second half”.’ As in the Sudamericano. Vitti was one of the stars at Rosario Central and it was rumoured that he was about to sign for Atlético de Madrid. He was the first-choice striker and Oberman, Messi and Agüero had to fight it out among themselves to catch the eye of the selector for the other attacking role. In the end Vitti played just three matches in those championships and spent one more year at Central, before joining Club Atlético Banfield, where he never really took off. Nor did he blossom when he moved to one of the Argentinian giants, Independiente. He went to Ukraine, then Canada, before making the transition to Peruvian football where he was a championship winner with Universidad de San Martín of Lima. He was then transferred to Universidad de Deportes in the same league. At the age of 18 or 19 the margin between success and failure is extremely narrow and ultimately only time will tell.
In that world championship Vitti was to start ahead of Messi and alongside Oberman. ‘I felt a bit strange while Pancho was reading out the names of the starting line-up,’ remembers Gustavo Oberman. ‘Everyone was looking at each other, in that way that speaks a thousand words,’ adds Zabaleta. It seemed strange that the player many considered to be the best was not playing. Leo said nothing; he just looked down at the ground. On the way to the pitch his absence from the line-up was the main topic of conversation. ‘He had problems in the Sudamericano,’ some of them said. ‘Maybe Pancho was frightened of pushing him too hard,’ others added. A serious looking Leo sat on the bench. No one spoke to him.
‘It was tremendous for me, because I played that game, I did well and after the coaches made some more changes in the line-up, I kept being selected … I was part of it!’ Oberman explains, still with a sense of surprise. For the first match Argentina lined up as follows:
Oscar Ustari; Julio Barroso, Gustavo Cabral, Gabriel Paletta, Lautaro Formica; Pablo Zabaleta, Lucas Biglia, Fernando Gago, Emiliano Armenteros; Pablo Vitti and Gustavo Oberman.
It didn’t even occur to Ferraro to glance at the bench during the first half and notice Leo’s frustration: ‘I was involved with the game.’ Ferraro needed more speed and flow up front because the USA were defending very deep. Six minutes before half-time, Chad Barrett put them ahead. Ferraro told Leo to get warmed up because he was coming on for Armenteros, but the change made no difference. Defeat for Argentina 1–0.
It was a grim-faced Leo who returned to the dressing room.
Group stage
Argentina vs Egypt
14 June 2005, Arke Stadium, Enschede
Attendance: 8,500
Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)
At the end of the game against the USA the senior players met in the dressing room (Biglia, Zabaleta …). The decision had been made even before discussions were under way. Leo had to play; he was the best. Even though it hadn’t been reflected in the score, he had come on for half of the game and had made the difference in terms of speed and boldness. Half a dozen times he had got the ball in the middle of the pitch and moved it forward. Messi made them better and that was why it was worth fighting to have him included. They asked for a meeting with Ferraro and it was Zabaleta who told him what the players had decided. Nothing else needed to be said. The coach agreed.
‘Whenever you build a team, you always protect the best player because in the end what you are doing is protecting yourself,’ Oberman recognises. ‘If someone gives me solutions, then I have to help that person, look after him, give him the ball, make him feel comfortable. This happens in every team in the world.’
Ferraro made changes against Egypt. ‘With Messi in the starting line-up, I put Neri Cardozo from Boca on the wing. I didn’t touch the defence. The back four, apart from Cabral, who made way for Garay because of two yellow cards in the final, were always the same: Ustari; Barroso, Cabral, Paletta and Formica. After that there was Zabaleta, Gago, ‘el Chaco’ (Juan Manuel) Torres and later Neri, or Archubi or Armentero, the three attacking half-backs.’ Oberman got the nod to play with Messi. Vitti was on the bench. For Kun Agüero the world championships would come a bit too soon.
It was against Egypt that the group began to see Leo’s competitive character. ‘In the Under 20 he showed that he had personality,’ says Oberman. ‘Against Egypt they gave him one hell of a kicking. I’m not sure I’d have got up again. But Leo just got up and carried on, he didn’t protest to the referee, I probably protested more than him, because I’m more like that. I can’t hold back. I took responsibility for the protesting. For us as long as he had the ball and did what he knew what to do, then we were happy.’
Messi scored in the forty-sixth minute, Zabaleta in the ninety-first. Argentina won 2–0.
Defeat in the first match against the USA meant that the team were now playing for a place in the next stage against Germany, who were also looking for a result. Argentina needed to win, but a draw would be enough to see the Germans through.
Group stage
Argentina vs Germany
18 June 2005, Unive Stadium, Emmen
Attendance: 8,800
Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)
Leo played as second striker in a 4-4-2 system even though he spent much of the match on the wing. He was following his gut instinct. ‘You could never say to Messi “stay here” because it didn’t work. You just let him play and got used to making the most of the space he used to create,’ says Gustavo Oberman. Ferraro was beginning to realise that he had to create conditions that would give free rein to Leo’s natural style, so that everyone else could reap the benefits. As his partner up front admits: ‘They would ask me to make diagonal runs to help Messi, so he could find me, or to open up the way.’ The team started to support Leo and give him more and more responsibilities. He took them naturally.
‘Messi was just one in the squad, but as the games came and went he got better,’ says Ferraro. ‘I knew his characteristics, I’d seen all the videos from Barcelona, and I said to everyone else: “we have to be on our guard with him. Sometimes he’ll give you the ball, sometimes he won’t. Watch out because he may need you to act as a wall to pass back, or as a dummy and then carry on. Make the most of the spaces he creates for you.” At that time I used him in central positions but starting either on the right or the left, with Oberman. And I asked the boys to stay alert: if we were pressing three-quarters in of the pitch and there were spaces we could hurt any side because we were very fast, not just the frontmen but also the midfielders who scored goals as well, Zabaleta, Barroso …’ Leo readily accepted one of the obligations of a modern forward: he would be the first line of defence.
The game began. Just before half-time Messi started off from the middle of the pitch, skinned his opponents, before moving wide and putting a precise cross into the area. Oberman let the ball go and Cardozo was there to make it 1–0. It was the forty-third minute, just before the interval.
In the second half, ‘Chaco’ Torres received a yellow card. Agüero came on for Oberman. Torres got the ball, fell and caught it with his arm. Second yellow: he was sent off, with ten minutes remaining. A decision had to be made. Pancho Ferraro takes up the story.
‘[My assistant, Miguel Ángel] Tojo said to me “who do we take off?” I asked Biglia, who was already warming up, to come over. Tojo asked me who I was taking off, I said “Messi”. Messi was forty metres away. He came over for the substitution, went past me, and I always gave them a pat on the back, and he sat down. We were winning 1–0. When we left the stadium, as usual they gave us a video of the game. If we had time before supper we would sit down with Tojo and watch it. That’s when I saw the face that Messi pulled when I replaced him – I had missed it during the game, but the camera had picked it up. I said to Tojo, “stop, stop, Miguel Ángel, rewind it”, which he did. I told him that I hadn’t seen that, a strange look on Leo’s face.’
Leo had not won a place in the t
eam by pulling faces, but it was hard for him to hide his feelings when things didn’t work out for him as he wanted. Leo had given what one of his team-mates described as a cara de culo, literally an arse-face.
‘He just never wanted to be substituted,’ remembers Salorio. ‘Leo is someone who doesn’t want to come off, even if he’s just playing marbles. We had a chat, I went to see him and I think I said: “you are showing disrespect not only to your coach, but you are also being disrespectful to the player who is coming on. He wants to play as well, and he doesn’t come on because he asks to, but because he is put on.”’
Ferraro continues: ‘We watched the video of the game, went for supper and after we’d finished eating, the squad got up and “the Professor”, Salorio, came to me and said: “Pancho, Leo would like to speak to you.” I said to him, “okay, tell him to wait for me. I’ll come now and we can talk.”’
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Hello, Leo.
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Hello, Pancho, I wanted to speak to you.
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Fine, what’s the matter?
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I was wrong today.
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Why’s that then? I said, pretending I didn’t know anything.
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No, well … I pulled a face at you and I was wrong. It’s just that, Pancho, I want to play.
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That’s okay. Don’t worry about it, okay? But I’ll tell you what – don’t do it to Rijkaard, or Pancho, or to any coach. Did you want to play at number five, defensive midfield? No, of course you didn’t. After the sending-off, I had to take someone off and Kun Agüero had only just come on. I didn’t do it on a whim. I needed to bring on Biglia because he is a number five, a defensive midfielder. But don’t worry, there’s no problem.
Messi Page 27