Neymar Vs. Messi... Who's Getting It First?

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Years of waiting and years of disappointment experienced by the Argentine football 'legend' Lionel Messi with his national team. The entertaining and charming Messi did not achieve any titles with the Argentine national team, except for the gold medal in the Beijing 2008 Olympics and the FIFA World Youth Championship. He lost the 2014 World Cup final and three Copa America finals in 2007, 2015, and 2016.

On Sunday, July 7, at dawn, all eyes will be on the iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro at 3:00 AM Al-Quds time (GMT+3). Everyone is anticipating the clash that will take place between Brazil and Argentina in the Copa America final.

Messi, Neymar, and the Pursuit of a First Title

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Messi will not be the only star not to have won a major title with his national team, as his friend and former FC Barcelona teammate Neymar shares the same solicitude with him. There is no doubt that this match will be historic in every sense of the word. Brazil is looking for its second title in a row and the tenth title in total, while Argentina is seeking a title that has been absent from their trophy room since 1992, aiming to tie with Uruguay, who has 15 continental titles. It is a coincidence that Brazil has not lost any championship held on its soil, winning five out of five championships and looking for the sixth one after 1919, 1922, 1949, 1989, and 2019.

What is unusual about this final is the fact that there is a group of Brazilian fans supporting Leo Messi, and a huge portion of fans from all around the world supporting Leo Messi. What is even more unusual is that a large portion of Real Madrid CF fans want Messi to obtain this title with his national team, while a large group of fans says that Messi losing the title will not change his cemented position as one of the greatest of all time.

Brazil fans supporting Argentina for Messi are like the Italians who supported Argentina for Maradona in the 1990 World Cup, except Messi has never played in Brazil and they are Argentina's archrivals. This is greatness. pic.twitter.com/reVjtpSO3z

— Purano account udihalyo, Whatever!! (@10Whatever_) July 10, 2021

half of Brazil is supporting Messi pic.twitter.com/lcdTTERx3i

— th£ lëgeñd hïmsēlf 🇺🇬🇦🇷🇯🇲 (@alibaddojunior) July 9, 2021

Messi, who recently turned 34, could be playing his last Latin American continental championship, and he will face Neymar, who has achieved historic figures with the Seleção. Unfortunately for him, he always gets injured before important matches for Brazil, which prevented him from getting crowned in 2019 when his team won Copa America.

There is no doubt that Neymar's motivation to achieve a title with Brazil, other than that of the Rio 2016 Olympics, is no less than the motivation of the thirsty Messi; he fights and makes all his physical effort to make sure his name goes down in Argentine history.

A History of Contests and Brazilian Superiority

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Brazil is facing off against Argentina in the Copa America finals for the fifth time in history, and during the four previous times, Brazil came out victorious. In 1937, Argentina won 2-0 against Brazil in the Copa America finals. At that time, Copa America was just a squads league, and it was not supposed to have a final. In the squads, the two arch-rivals ended the tie with 8 points each, and instead of thinking about the goal difference to choose the champion, Brazil and Argentina agreed to play a play-off to determine the champion, and the Tango team excelled in Buenos Aires.

In 2004, Brazil and Argentina tied 2-2, for Brazil to win the penalty shoot-out. A year later, Brazil won the FIFA Confederations Cup final by four goals to one.

The last final between them was in the 2007 Copa America. On that day, Brazil surprised the Tango Dancers team, winning 3-0. During that tournament, Messi was 20 years old and played the final in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo with Juan Roman Riquelme and Carlos Tevez, but he could not make a difference.

Speaking of Argentina’s voodoo in the finals against Brazil, there is a curse placed upon the Argentine national team's leader, Lionel Messi, who did not beat Brazil in any official match out of the six he played (losing four times and tying twice). The question on the minds of everyone who will watch the match is: will Messi break the Samba curse (as well as the Argentinian curse!) of not being able to win any titles and end the game by holding up the 'Copa'?