About Messi quitting NT team, I don't mean anything bad towards and Argentina, but they have 0,1% chance to win a world cup.
Again, this will sound somewhat rude, but his real chance for NT trophy is Copa America or Olympic games.
On Copa you have only 2-3 stronger opponents like Chile, poor Brasil and Uruguay.
If you can't win Copa against those opponents, you have 0 chances against waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay stronger European powerhouses like Germany, Italy, Spain, France etc.
So, for people who are hoping that he will come back to NT team, what is the point?
He will play horrible for Barca in 2017/18 if he will think about World cup.
And then, Argentina will have 0,1% chance to do something on European soil.
Then, fans will attack him again and he will suffer even more mental issues both in 2017/18 before a World cup and in 2018/19 after a World cup.
If he wants to win an NT trophy, he can try on Copa.
Realistically, Argentina and Messi won't win WC, especially now with 31 years old Messi.
In the past they had some chances, but now they don't.
For Barca fans, it is better if he won't play for NT team anymore.
For Messi's fans who care mostly about Messi's legacy and his Baloon'D'Ors, well, quitting is a bad thing then...
They all do, but this really makes it clear the problem is the afa. Too many failures for too much of a long time. And with great players in all those teams. Can't be just bad luck.
Mental strength?
Too many people don't mention that skill at all.
You all mention either technical skills of players, or good/bad luck, or good/bad coaches.
If a team loses numerous finals in a same way, there can be something horribly wrong with a mentality of that club/nation/players.
On the other hand, if someone else is winning all the time (in a somewhat lucky way), it can't be just luck.
For example, can anyone imagine German NT team losing several finals in a row in a same way?
Absolutely no chance.
Can you imagine Argentina, Netherlands, current Brasil and similar losing xx finals in a row?
Oh, yes, quite easy.
About Messi, in the last few days we have debated about whether is a CR7 a choker or not.
Messi is somewhat similar to Modric now.
With Barca, Messi is not scared in finals.
With Argentina, when the pressure is high, Messi is choking. And as the time goes by, and as the pressure grows (because of previous failures), he is choking more and more.
The world is not black and white, as it often seems on Barcaforum, like:
Barca, we are good guys.
Our players are good guys and mentally strong.
While RM players are bad guys, lucky guys without much skills, and usually chokers.
We can twist stats how much we want, but Messi in an NT team is a textbook example of choking.
(If someone replies: but his NT sucks.
Well, that pulls some new questions: is he then winning titles in Barca because his team, Barca, is too good then?
I am not implying that, but on the other hand, we have so many silly excuses for our players, and silly accusations for opponent's players.
When CR7 and Portugal play badly=we say that it is NOT because Portugal is crap, but because CR7 is a pure crap (lol)
When Messi and Argentina disappoint=then, in our eyes, it is NOT Messi's fault. It is AFA, a coach, poor teammates.
While in reality, aren't Di Maria, Aguero and Higuain better teammates than CR7's teammates where the best attacking player is Nani, who plays for Fenerbahce (lol), and Quaresma who never played some serious club football in his whole career?
And yet, CR7 relies heavily on a service from teammates.
So, who should create chances there in order for him to score and shine?
Flavia, this is not a reply to your post, but in general.
I mean, we can still adore Barca and Messi.
But we can also say: boy, he was crap and choked in his NT career, sadly.
He will still be a Goat, a best player ever, a player who brought us (Barca) the best era in our lives.
But also, we have to be realistic. His NT career was really not good enough for his standards.
He will surely never win a WC (Argentina is not good enough).
So, yes, Messi had weak teammates (but not THAT weak), his coach was bad (but not THAT bad) etc.
Argentina should have probably won at least 1 copa in his NT career.