Oscar barnade
06/28/2021 21:12
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 06/28/2021 9:17 PM
Among so many records, Lionel Messi has just added one more to his successful career as a footballer.
He was already the top scorer of the Argentine National Team.
Now, with 148 games, he is the footballer who most often wore the light blue and white shirt, beating his friend Javier Mascherano by one.
However, in the world it is still far from entering the top pen.
From now until the end of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, already 35 years old, he will have the opportunity to continue climbing positions.
“Congratulations Leo for having reached the record of appearances with the @Argentina shirt.
Nobody better than you to continue growing the legend and be the player with the most presence in our National Team.
Congratulations to the whole team for the victory and may there be many more !!! ”, El Jefecito wrote on his Twitter account on Monday, June 21.
Big stars also set records.
Congratulations Leo for having reached the record of appearances with the @Argentina shirt.
Nobody better than you to continue growing the legend and be the player with the most presence in our National Team.
Congratulations to the whole team for the victory and many more!
pic.twitter.com/tDW3hJXUzb
- Javier Mascherano (@Mascherano) June 22, 2021
However, Leo is still far from the top ten. Even his great competitor of the 21st century, the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, on Sunday played his 180th game with the Portuguese national team and was five of the player with the most matches in national teams. In addition, in the European Championship from which Belgium has just been eliminated, he became the top scorer of all time, for now equaled with Iranian Ali Daei, with 109 goals.
In addition to CR7, who will surely continue to play for a while longer with his national team, Kuwaiti striker Bader Al-Mutawa is also active, who this year reached 185 caps, beating Hassan Ahmed of Egypt by one.
For now, they are the three players who are on the podium of international presences.
Messi, with the 148 games, reached the 30th place, while Javier Mascherano was 34th.
Why are most of the players who made it to a hundred games contemporary?
Why if Diego Maradona, an emblem who always expressed his vocation to play for the National Team, barely reached 87 games?
Why did no player until the 1960s exceed 50 international matches?
On the one hand, in the 1940s there were not so many international matches played per year and as there were quantity and quality of footballers, they rotated a lot.
In the 1960s, after the Swedish Disaster, there was no continuity of coaches and then the calls varied.
It was only with the arrival of César Luis Menotti that there were undisputed, who began to break the barrier of 50 matches, such as Américo Gallego, Daniel Passarella, Alberto Tarantino or Pato Ubaldo Fillol.
In the Menotti-Bilardo-Basile transition, Diego was always there, 17 years apart between the first and last games.
But at the start of his cycle, Bilardo decided not to call him until the Qualifiers for Mexico.
After the World Cup in Spain, he just returned to wear the light blue and white shirt two years and 10 months later.
Cristiano Ronaldo, for now, has 180 games.
Photo: EFE / EPA / HUGO DELGADO
Finally, when Coco Basile took over, Ten was suspended for positive antidoping at Napoli.
Between the final of the 90 World Cup and the friendly with Brazil in February 1993, two years and seven months passed (in addition, that year, he only returned in November for the Repechage against Australia).
In those almost five years, Argentina played 42 international matches.
Maradona would have widely exceeded 100 games.
In recent decades, with the Eliminatory format there are more international matches and, in addition, the average retirement age of the players has increased and their validity as internationals, such as Javier Mascherano and Javier Zanetti.
And now Messi, who despite qualifying for the quarterfinals, wanted to play against Bolivia, always wants to play, and finally imposed his will.
Roberto Ayala was the first Argentine footballer to exceed 100 international matches.
The former defender of Ferro and River, among others, debuted in 1994 at the beginning of Daniel Passarella's cycle.
Almost 12 years later, at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, against Mexico (2-1, goal by Maxi Rodríguez) in Leipzig, he set the new record.
Roberto Ayala, against Mexico in the World Cup in Germany, reached 100 games.
A few months later, it was achieved by Javier Zanetti, former defender of Talleres de Escalada, Banfield and Inter.
He also debuted against Chile (3-0) on November 16, 1994 and reached 100 on February 7, 2007 in a friendly against France in Paris (1-0).
He completed his campaign in the National Team until 2011, registering a new record with 142 appearances.
Diego Simeone made his debut for the national team on July 14, 1988, against Australia (1-4), with Carlos Bilardo as coach.
And on August 15, 2001, against Ecuador by Qualifying (2-0), he reached the 100 barrier. He played three more games and the 2002 World Cup in Korea / Japan marked his retirement.
Javier Mascherano had the pleasure of debuting first in the National Team than in his River club, on July 16, 2003, in La Plata against Uruguay (2-2). He soon established himself as the undisputed starter.
Ten years later, at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he reached 100 games (2-1 to Iran on June 21).
In the following World Cup, Russia 2018, they played their last match, the day that Argentina was eliminated against France.
Mascherano's 147 international presences seemed unattainable.
Not for Leo, who 364 days, on June 20 and 2015 against Jamaica (1-0) in the Copa América in Chile, reached 100 games.
The sixth player to reach the centennial figure was Angel Di María, on June 28, 2019, in the Copa América in Brazil, against Venezuela (2-0). And this Monday 28, against Bolivia, Sergio Agüero joined the club of the hundred. An exclusive club now led by Lionel Messi alone.