Messi’s World Cup magic: A football pilgrimage

KANSAS CITY – Long before night fell, the faithful started arriving. Four hours before the 8pm kick-off, traffic had backed up for several kilometres and many people simply left their buses and started a 10km walk to the stadium.

The distance meant nothing, for this was more than a sporting occasion. It was a football pilgrimage. Here, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, in this part of the United States’ Bible Belt, a prophet in long shorts, boots and a stubble was in the building.

Not a God who is preached about from pulpits, but the one who fills football stands and conjures miracles. In the stands, 69,045 spectators were howling, most bowing in homage in his direction, with some splashing out US$10,000 (S$12,800) for this one-time blessing.

That’s how much the trip cost Andy Xu, 33, who took a near 13-hour flight from Guangzhou to Los Angeles and another three-hour flight just to watch one man.

“This is my first time watching Messi,” said Xu. “Every football fan grew up watching Messi on TV and now that I can afford to watch him at a World Cup, I knew I had to do it. I hope he makes some magic today.”

Presumably, a first-ever World Cup hat-trick from Messi sufficed.

Messi went on to deliver one of the most iconic performances in World Cup history, scoring all three goals in the match to spur defending champions Argentina to a 3-0 win over Algeria in their Group J opener.

Non-believers had said the Argentina superstar, who turns 39 on June 24, is too old and on his last legs. One World Cup too many, some wondered. But it took 17 minutes and the first goal for the doubters to be silenced and the devoted to be vindicated.

In this football universe, this diminutive maestro who is only 1.70m and often stands head and shoulders above everyone else on the field, almost always delivers. After having an early goal denied by the offside flag, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner dazzled through a gap in the middle, and picked out the top corner for his first goal of the match and 14th in World Cups.

In the stands, shirts were off and being whirled in the air and tears were falling for this man who became the first to play at six World Cups. It almost felt like the streets of Buenos Aires.

Exactly 20 years to the day he made his World Cup debut and scored his first goal after coming on as a 74th-minute substitute in a 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro, one thing was immediately clear. The search for the next Messi should stop. The original is not done yet.

Everything ran through him in the game. He was still able to pick up the ball, drive towards retreating defenders and prod a ball through elegantly. And when Algerian goalkeeper Luca Zidane spilt a shot in the six-yard box in the 60th minute, there he was, quick and sharp and sliding the ball in with his weaker right foot for his second goal.

This may be the arena of the National Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs, where stars like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce call home. But here and now, this is Messi’s world and the city has found out what global superstardom looks like.

Some crossed oceans, others drove for hours. Fans arrived from China, Jamaica, Thailand, Colombia, Mexico. All they wanted was a glimpse. When play was halted in the 22nd minute for the first hydration break of the match, the crowd whistled in derision. As if they were being robbed of precious minutes to witness more magic.

Daniel Stevenson, a 41-year-old American, said he knew he would do everything he could to get a ticket after it was confirmed last December that Argentina would play a match in his city.

He had watched the Chiefs several times at this stadium, but the real chief was here now and he would not “miss it for the world”. Stevenson, who paid US$700 for his ticket, confessed that he was no die-hard football fan, but said: “Everyone knows the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) Messi is in my city.

“I would have paid anything.”

The media flocked here too and the press box was packed. Journalists from India, Bangladesh, Japan, Costa Rica, Poland and this lone Singaporean, all united by the sense that this was an occasion worth travelling for.

The final goal came in the 76th minute as Messi’s historic hat-trick arrived with a low shot to the left side of goal. It made him the joint-highest World Cup scorer, tied on 16 goals with Miroslav Klose.

His day was done and, four minutes later, when the fourth official’s substitution board showed Messi’s number, the crowd rose to salute him. The applause was a sign of gratitude and almost immediately, part of the congregation made for the exits.

The match might still have been continuing, but the service was over.