No — Football, like many things in life, is about teamwork not individuals. We may reminisce about how Pele and Diego Maradona ruled the world single-handedly, but that is absolute nonsense. Both were great players in great teams. Great players are by-products of great teams — you can’t be one without the other. Messi and Ronaldo may have great teams around them to make them great at Barcelona and Real Madrid, but they don’t have great teams around them at Argentina or Portugal.
Any belief that they would somehow carry these sides to glory at this World Cup regardless was seriously deluded. I would say the World Cup is actually better off without them in the latter stages, because although you may miss their moments of individual flair, we can now finally focus on what football is all about.
The team that wins this tournament will be a team in the truest sense of the word, and the real joy of watching football comes from witnessing that connection between eleven, not one. Don’t get confused though, within the winning team there may inevitably be a standout player, but that doesn’t mean he did it alone, or won it for them.
Football has sadly gravitated more towards cult icons and mythology. The Ballon d’Or, for example, meant nothing a decade ago before Messi and Ronaldo shared 10 each and climbed Forbes rich lists for endorsements. None of this equates to actually winning a World Cup as a team though, and the former should never overtake the latter.
In football, no one is bigger than the badge and everything going forward in this tournament will now be better off without Messi and Ronaldo — knowing that it’s that message that will be heard over the noise.
