Lionel Messi Shines in his First Match as Captain

There was some criticism against Diego Maradona for not playing some of the experienced players including the regular captain Javier Mascherano against the world cup match against Greece. Lionel Messi was put in charge of captaincy and he could lead the successfully with a 2-0 win.

Messi is just 23 years old but he has been playing at Barcelona from the age of 16. In fact, he has been playing for the national team for more than 4 years. Messi has already played 46 matches for the national team and he has scored 13 goals.

If you are wondering why he has scored not many goals for the national team the answer is perhaps simple. He is always marked strongly by the opponent players and he creates a lot of opportunities for the team mates. The same thing happened in all the 3 matches of World Cup 2010.  

Diego Maradona has never hided the fact that he is extremely fond of Messi. It was like a birthday gift to the boy wonder as his birthday is on 24 June. Messi showed that he was capable of leading his team even at a very early age.

In the round of 16, Argentina will play against Mexico at Johannesburg's Soccer City on coming Sunday. It is notable that Argentina played against Mexico in the round of 16 in 2006 World Cup too. Argentina won that match by 2-1 in extra time and Messi came in the 84^th minute as a substitute player. He did not get any goal in that match.

In this World Cup, Lionel Messi is in superb form but the only thing that perhaps has made him some sad is the fact that he has not been able to score any goal yet. Of course, he assisted in almost all the 7 goals that Argentina has scored so far in this competition.