Missing Messi

A player who looks a lot like Lionel Messi was wearing his jersey today, playing against Colombia in Copa America. "Messi" scored 0 goals, continuing "Messi's" streak of not scoring international goals. His teammate CAHLOS TAVAHZ also struggled to score, probably thinking more about his impending move away from Manchester City than scoring goals in a competition that would make Argentina no longer look like a laughing stock.

Lionel Messi might be the best football player in the world when he plays for Barcelona, but when it comes to playing in Argentina, he isn't even at Maradona's level. Stars are born in Champions League, but legends are made at the World Cup. Diego Forlan's star power skyrocketed at last year's world cup, whereas he was previously totally unknown. Messi's star power has only gone down, failing to make his mark at UEFA Champions League and continuing to perform poorly in Copa America.

Argentina's first two games were draws against Bolivia and Colombia, causing Argentina to now require a win against invitee Costa Rica, pending the results of Bolivia vs Costa Rica, which Bolivia is expected to win. There is in fact, a very real possibility that host nation Argentina will be eliminated in the group phase, which would cause Argentina to become a worldwide laughingstock.

At this point, I'm not surprised at all that Argentina is playing such uninspired football. Messi is mostly a humble guy, but with everyone calling him the greatest thing since sliced bread, it has to be going to his head a little bit. CAHLOS TAVAHZ is also busy attempting to form words with his gigantic teeth and desiring to leave Manchester City because he wants to spend more time with his children in Argentina. Tevez going to Argentina's league is a huge step down, but in reality, it could be him trying to inspire Messi to go back to Argentina as well to build better chemistry with Argentina national team teammates.

Whatever the case, Copa America could prove to be the beginning of a very long road for Argentina.