Can Lionel Messi win a World Cup in his career?

No.

The way things are looking up, 2018 FIFA World Cup might be his last world cup. Even if he plays another world cup, the chances of Argentina winning the world cup are low.

Ever since Messi has become an internationally recognized player and has taken up the mantle of the Argentinian captain, the basic strategy of Argentina is “passing to Messi.” This strategy fails because crowding out Messi solves the problem. The reason Argentina reached the finals of the 2014 World Cup was because of an easy group, a freak lucky goal against Belgium and penalties in the semis.

Messi, theoretically speaking, had no contributions in the knockout stages. Both Belgium and Netherlands were not exactly challenging squads at the time. Belgium was a rising national team and Netherlands had deteriorated under their coach. The ‘passing to Messi’ strategy didn’t work against them and against Germany’s wall of Lahm, Neuer, Hummels, Boateng etc it was bound to fail.

Its an agreed fact that your most talented player must get as much possession as possible but the moment that player becomes more important than the team, the team comes crashing down. This certainly happens at Argentina and even at his club Barcelona. There are players who have complained of the over-importance given to Messi. Winning a world cup in the Messi era is a dream for Argentina as they have an unbalanced squad.

Clashing egos in the Argentina bench are also a problem. Argentina have an oversaturation of excellent forwards and attacking midfielders. DiMaria, Aguero, Messi, Higuain etc are enough to cause a havoc for the opposite end but their clashing egos are a challenge to their home turf too. There have been numerous instances of selfish playing in Argentina’s ranks. But football is an unpredictable and beautiful game. There is always a chance that Argentina might pull off a miracle but this will begin only when Argentina begin playing as a team and not as a support staff forMessi.

The chances that Messi is going to win a World Cup right now is slim so I have to say no. This might be Messi’s last world cup because of his age. Argentina was not able to win against Belgium so Messi and the rest of his teammates were sent packing. The main issue about this is probably because of Messi’s over importance to the team. The team of Argentina is great. The players are actually strong in their own ways.

The main problem starts when everyone decides that they would pass the ball to Messi and when the other team blocks Messi, making a goal or even passing the ball to another player becomes impossible. Unless this strategy is changed and Messi is still allowed to play in the next World Cup, then there is a chance that the no will become a yes.