football

26/SEP 2013

THE FUTURE TIMES

SPORTS:

FOOTBALL

Early life Messi was born in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, to parents Jorge Horácio Messi, a factory steel worker, and Celia María Cuccittini, a part-time cleaner.[13][14][15][16] His paternal family originates from the Italian city of Ancona, from which his ancestor, Angelo Messi, emigrated to Argentina in 1883.[17][18] He has two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matías, and a sister, María Sol.[19] At the age of five, Messi started playing football for Grandoli, a local club coached by his father Jorge.[20] In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys who were based in his home city Rosario.[20] He became part of a local youth powerhouse that lost only one match in the next four years and became locally known as "The Machine of '87", from the year of their birth.[21]

Club career Barcelona Messi played in Barcelona's junior Infantil B and Cadete B & A teams from 2000 to 2003 (scoring 37 goals in 30 matches in Cadete A). He was nearly released from the club in 2003 because of financial constraints, but his youth coaches convinced management to keep him (Cesc Fabregas was released during this purge).[25] Season 2003–04 saw him on a record[26] five different teams: He started one match in Juvenil B (one goal) and got promoted to Juvenil A (14 matches, 21 goals). Later he debuted for FC Barcelona C team (Tercera División) on 29 November 2003 and for FC Barcelona B (Segunda División B) on 6 March 2004. He played for both teams during the season (ten matches, five goals and five matches, zero goals, respectively).[27][28][29] Even before these two debuts, Messi made his official debut for the first-team on 16 November 2003 aged 16 years and 145 days, in a friendly match against Porto.[30][31]

Less than a year after his start, Frank Rijkaard gave him his league debut against RCD Espanyol on 16 October 2004 (at 17 years and 114 days), becoming the third-youngest player ever to play for Barcelona and youngest club player to play in La Liga, which would be broken by Bojan Krkić in September 2007. When he scored his first senior goal for the club against Albacete Balompiéon 1 May 2005, Messi was 17 years, ten months and seven days old, becoming the youngest to ever score in a La Liga game for Barcelona [32] until it was again broken by Bojan Krkić in 2007, scoring from a Messi assist.[33] Messi said about his ex-coach Rijkaard: "I'll never forget the fact that he launched my career, that he had confidence in me while I was only sixteen or seventeen."[34] During the season, Messi played also in Barcelona B (Segunda División B) scoring 6 goals in 17 matches.

Style of play Messi has been compared to compatriot Diego Maradona, due to their similar playing style and stature,[239] which gives him a lower centre of gravity than most players, allowing him to be more agile and change direction more quickly, helping him to evade tackles.[240] His short, strong legs allow him to excel in short bursts of acceleration and his quick feet allow him to keep control of the ball when dribbling at speed.[241] His former FC Barcelona manager, Pep Guardiola, once stated: “Messi is the only player that runs faster with the ball than he does without it.�[242] Like Maradona before him, Messi is dominantly a left footed player.[243] With the outside of his left foot, he usually begins dribbling runs, whilst he uses the inside of his foot to finish and provide passes and assists to team mates.[240]

2008 Summer Olympics Having barred Messi from playing for Argentina in the 2008 Olympics,[208] Barcelona agreed to release him after he held talks with newly appointed coach Pep Guardiola.[209] He joined the Argentina squad and scored the first goal in a 2–1 victory over Ivory Coast.[209] He then scored the opening goal and assisted Ángel di María in the second to help his side to a 2–1 extra-time win against the Netherlands.[210] He also featured in Argentina's match against rivals Brazil, in which Argentina took a 3–0 victory, thus advancing to the final. In the gold medal match, Messi again assisted Di María for the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Nigeria.[211]

International career Often referred to as an Argentinian-Spanish player, this crossover was brought into sharp focus when in 2004, Lionel was offered the chance to play for the Spanish national U-20 team. He declined the offer given his Argentinian heritage, and was given the opportunity to play for Argentina's U20 team in a friendly match against Paraguay in June 2004.[184] Messi scored once against Paraguay and twice in friendly against Uruguay in July 2004.[185] In 2005 he was part of a team that finished third in 2005 South American Youth Championship in Colombia. He won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands with the team and won the Golden Ball and the Golden Shoe,[186] scoring in the last four of Argentina's matches and netting a total of six for the tournament.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Messi : for all information

2006 World Cup An injury that kept Messi from playing for two months at the end of the 2005–06 season jeopardised his presence in the 2006 World Cup. Nevertheless, Messi was selected in the Argentina squad for the tournament on 15 May 2006. He also played in the final match before the World Cup against the Argentine U-20 team for 15 minutes and a friendly match against Angola from the 64th minute.[193][194] He witnessed Argentina's opening match victory against Ivory Coast from the substitutes' bench.[195] In the next match against Serbia and Montenegro, Messi became the youngest player to represent Argentina at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute for Maxi Rodríguez in the 74th minute. He assisted Hernán Crespo's goal within minutes of entering the game and also scored the final goal in the 6–0 victory, making him the youngest scorer in the tournament and the sixth youngest goalscorer in the history of the World Cup.[196] Messi started in Argentina's following 0–0 draw against the Netherlands.[197]

2010 World Cup On 28 March 2009, in a World Cup Qualifier against Venezuela, Messi wore the number 10 jersey for the first time with Argentina. This match was the first official match for Diego Maradona as the Argentina manager. Argentina won the match 4–0 with Messi opening the scoring.[211] Overall, Messi scored four goals in 18 appearances during the South American 2010 World Cup qualifying process.[