Lionel Messi will get his moment. There is no doubt about that.
As the legend bids farewell to the Argentina national team and the Argentina national team bids farewell to him, there will be tributes. There will be moments of magic. There likely will be goals.
After all, Messi's farewell does not come against some of the giants he has slayed during his career but rather against Benin, a West African nation with a national team that is competent, though not commanding at the regional level.
"I’m the center defender," Benin's Mohamed Tijani told an Argentine TV station that captured him coming out of a souvenir shop in the center of Buenos Aires. "You can’t mark Messi. We’re going to enjoy this game. There’s no special plan to defend against Messi. You have
to enjoy this game. That’s it.
"I’m going to see Messi. I’ll tell him, ‘You’re a god.'"
Messi always provoked feelings of reverence from opponents, and a send-off game is not the time for Tijani or anyone else to go studs up on the man of the hour. Yet, it's revealing that even Benin's players, coming off a draw with Burkina Faso and a win over Mauritania in African Cup of Nations qualification, think they go into the contest as bit players in the true spectacle.
Benin's visit to Buenos Aires comes on the heels of Argentina's 7-0 thrashing of Burkina Faso on Saturday, Oct. 3. That game was at risk because of difficulties with a charter flight that was to take Burkina Faso from Morocco, where it had played an AFCON qualifier, to Argentina. After a number of delays, many regulars for Burkina Faso opted out of the trip, leading to a game featuring what amounted to Burkina Faso's U-20 side with a few ringers thrown in.
"Yes, logically, I’d like to play stronger opponents," Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said after that match, though he cautioned that one of his team's biggest struggles in the World Cup came against Cape Verde, a team considered to be one of the weaker teams in the tournament.
French investigative journalist Romain Molina, whose work often covers corruption, abuse or apathy in African sports federations, reported the issue came down to the way in which Argentina structured the deal for these friendly matches.
With the Argentine Football Association (AFA) keeping all revenue from these games, Molina reported, they're incentivized to minimize costs and work with a promoter to take care of logistics like the opposing team's flight and their hotel stay.
It's how you end up with a Burkina Faso youth team as your opponent in the second game after finishing runner-up in the World Cup.
This, at least, is the real Benin - just like in March, while other teams were fine-tuning their World Cup squads, Argentina was playing the real Mauritania and Zambia.
The lack of a real test before the World Cup didn't seem to hurt Argentina, which struggled but made the final and pushed Spain to extra time before losing, 1-0.
Yet, the man being honored Tuesday night is one of the biggest reasons Argentina has been able to paper over some of those cracks.
Argentina hasn't needed to forge itself in the fires against top teams ahead of big tournaments because Messi and the generation around him did that themselves. They have played the toughest teams and won in the most difficult environments. If it's a kick-about against Mauritania or a Finalissimo match against Spain, Messi, along with running buddies Angel Di Maria, Rodrigo De Paul, Nicolás Tagliafico and Dibu Martinez understand what is expected when they put on the national team's shirt.
There are talented players in the Argentina pipeline - that much has been on display this month even in blowout wins over Bolivia and Burkina Faso. But Argentina will miss Messi's skills, his level of seriousness and, of course, his economic appeal.
The match against Benin is one last chance for Messi to help his country's soccer authorities rake in a lot of cash (one that will echo with special jerseys surely still selling for months and perhaps years to come).
His left foot alone is a commercial juggernaut, and Messi has been lucrative for the Argentine federation. Even if its well-wishes on his retirement are genuine, Argentina is not only losing a player who remains key on the field but also one who has helped power the economic engine off it.
All of this seems a bit cynical. It's not about Tuesday's match.
Tuesday night will provide nice moments for a national hero. It will give fans a chance to get closure on an era that has made up a significant portion of most of their lives.
Messi deserves basically any honor that can be thrown at him. He has decided to hang them up for Argentina and done so gracefully - after a World Cup cycle in which he gave every drop of sweat he had to push his country as far as possible before falling just short. He did the same in triumph, winning the 2022 World Cup and the Copa América in 2021 and 2024.
Now, he exits to make space for the new generation and to extend his career with Inter Miami as long as possible. He will be sent off with special moments, with gifts, with tributes and with one more chance to take the field.
But if the AFA truly wants to honor Messi's legacy, it will take a look at the way in which it operates, the way in which it tries to make money, to capitalize on the interest the team has because of the magic that happens off the field.
Messi will get his moment. Now, Argentina must reckon with how to treat the next generation of players aspiring to reach his level.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Leo Messi deserves beautiful farewell - AFA must answer questions after
