THE FUTURE TIMES

FOOTBALL

26SEP 2013

SPORTS

Early life Messi was born in Rosario Santa Fe Province to parents

Jorge Horaacutecio Messi a factory steel worker and Celia

Mariacutea Cuccittini a part-time cleaner[13][14][15][16] His

paternal family originates from the Italian city of Ancona

from which his ancestor Angelo Messi emigrated to

Argentina in 1883[17][18] He has two older brothers Rodrigo

and Matiacuteas and a sister Mariacutea Sol[19] At the age of five

Messi started playing football for Grandoli a local club

coached by his father Jorge[20] In 1995 Messi switched to

Newells Old Boys who were based in his home city

Rosario[20]

He became part of a local youth powerhouse

that lost only one match in the next four years and became

locally known as The Machine of 87 from the year of

their birth[21]

Early life Messi was born in Rosario Santa Fe Province to parents

Jorge Horaacutecio Messi a factory steel worker and Celia

Mariacutea Cuccittini a part-time cleaner[13][14][15][16] His

paternal family originates from the Italian city of Ancona

from which his ancestor Angelo Messi emigrated to

Argentina in 1883[17][18] He has two older brothers Rodrigo

and Matiacuteas and a sister Mariacutea Sol[19] At the age of five

Messi started playing football for Grandoli a local club

coached by his father Jorge[20] In 1995 Messi switched to

Newells Old Boys who were based in his home city

Rosario[20]

He became part of a local youth powerhouse

that lost only one match in the next four years and became

locally known as The Machine of 87 from the year of

their birth[21]

Club career

Messi played in Barcelonas junior Infantil B and Cadete B amp A teams

from 2000 to 2003 (scoring 37 goals in 30 matches in Cadete A) He was

nearly released from the club in 2003 because of financial constraints but

his youth coaches convinced management to keep him (Cesc

Fabregas was released during this purge)[25] Season 2003ndash04 saw him on

a record[26] five different teams He started one match in Juvenil B (one

goal) and got promoted to Juvenil A (14 matches 21 goals) Later he

debuted for FC Barcelona C team (Tercera Divisioacuten) on 29 November

2003 and for FC Barcelona B (Segunda Divisioacuten B) on 6 March 2004 He

played for both teams during the season (ten matches five goals and five

matches zero goals respectively)[27][28][29] Even before these two debuts

Messi made his official debut for the first-team on 16 November 2003

aged 16 years and 145 days in a friendly match against Porto[30][31]

Barcelona

Less than a year after his start Frank Rijkaard gave him his

league debut against RCD Espanyol on 16 October 2004 (at

17 years and 114 days) becoming the third-youngest player

ever to play for Barcelona and youngest club player to play

in La Liga which would be broken by Bojan Krkić in Sep-

tember 2007 When he scored his first senior goal for the

club against Albacete Balompieacuteon 1 May 2005 Messi was

17 years ten months and seven days old becoming the

youngest to ever score in a La Liga game for Barcelona[32] until it was again broken by Bojan Krkić in 2007 scor-

ing from a Messi assist[33] Messi said about his ex-coach

Rijkaard Ill never forget the fact that he launched my ca-

reer that he had confidence in me while I was only sixteen

or seventeen[34] During the season Messi played also in

Barcelona B (Segunda Divisioacuten B) scoring 6 goals in 17

matches

Style of play Messi has been compared to compatriot Diego Maradona due to

their similar playing style and stature[239] which gives him a lower

centre of gravity than most players allowing him to be more agile

and change direction more quickly helping him to evade tack-

les[240] His short strong legs allow him to excel in short bursts of

acceleration and his quick feet allow him to keep control of the

ball when dribbling at speed[241] His former FC Barcelo-

na manager Pep Guardiola once stated ldquoMessi is the only player

that runs faster with the ball than he does without itrdquo[242] Like

Maradona before him Messi is dominantly a left footed play-

er[243] With the outside of his left foot he usually begins dribbling

runs whilst he uses the inside of his foot to finish and provide

passes and assists to team mates[240]

2008 Summer Olympics Having barred Messi from playing for Argentina in the 2008

Olympics[208] Barcelona agreed to release him after he held

talks with newly appointed coach Pep Guardiola[209] He

joined the Argentina squad and scored the first goal in a 2ndash1

victory over Ivory Coast[209] He then scored the opening

goal and assisted Aacutengel di Mariacutea in the second to help his

side to a 2ndash1 extra-time win against the Netherlands[210] He

also featured in Argentinas match against rivals Brazil in

which Argentina took a 3ndash0 victory thus advancing to the

final In the gold medal match Messi again assisted Di Ma-

riacutea for the only goal in a 1ndash0 victory over Nigeria[211]

Often referred to as an Argentinian-Spanish player this crossover was brought into sharp focus when in 2004 Li-onel was offered the chance to play for the Spanish national U-20 team He declined the offer given his Argentinian herit-age and was given the opportunity to play for Argentinas U-20 team in a friendly match against Paraguay in June 2004

[184] Messi scored once against Paraguay and twice in

friendly against Uruguay in July 2004[185]

In 2005 he was part of a team that finished third in 2005 South American Youth Championship in Colombia He won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands with the team and won the Golden Ball and the Golden Shoe

[186] scoring

in the last four of Argentinas matches and netting a total of six for the tournament

International career

httpenwikipediaorgwikiLionel_Messi for all information

2006 World Cup An injury that kept Messi from playing for two months at the end

of the 2005ndash06 season jeopardised his presence in the 2006 World

Cup Nevertheless Messi was selected in the Argentina squad for

the tournament on 15 May 2006 He also played in the final match

before the World Cup against the Argentine U-20 team for

15 minutes and a friendly match against Angola from the 64th mi-

nute[193][194] He witnessed Argentinas opening match victory

against Ivory Coast from the substitutes bench[195] In the next

match against Serbia and Montenegro Messi became the youngest

player to represent Argentina at a World Cup when he came on as

a substitute for Maxi Rodriacuteguez in the 74th minute He assisted

Hernaacuten Crespos goal within minutes of entering the game and al-

so scored the final goal in the 6ndash0 victory making him the young-

est scorer in the tournament and the sixth youngest goalscorer in

the history of the World Cup[196] Messi started in Argentinas fol-

lowing 0ndash0 draw against the Netherlands[197]

2010 World Cup On 28 March 2009 in a World Cup Qualifier

against Venezuela Messi wore the number 10

jersey for the first time with Argentina This

match was the first official match for Diego

Maradona as the Argentina manager Argentina

won the match 4ndash0 with Messi opening the

scoring[211] Overall Messi scored four goals in

18 appearances during the South American

2010 World Cup qualifying process[