Silence of the GOATs

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They have inspired many of dream of playing on the football field since they burst into the international football arena. They have won innumerable laurels, accolades and the adulation of millions of their respective football fans across the globe.

The annual FIFA World Player of the Year Awards, under its changed names and formats, have been shared between them since 2008 and no other footballer even comes close to the two best footballers of this millennium, in terms of setting records and milestones in world football.

They have won a total nine UEFA Champions League title between them and if we add their titles together, the sum total is only second to Real Madrid’s overall record haul of 13.

Messi after the 4-3 defeat against France in the round of 16 match at Kazan Arena, in Kazan. /VCG Photo

However, if anything, both deserved and desired, has remained elusive in the illustrious and glorious careers of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, that’s the Silvio Gazzininga-designed golden silverware, better known as the FIFA World Cup trophy.

It may be a sheer coincidence that the two most-decorated footballers of their generation, walked down the sunset boulevard with one unfulfilled dream and their lifelong mission impossible.

It’s still debatable whether Messi and Ronaldo failed to lift the World Cup or the World Cup didn’t lift them to their pinnacle. But the fact and reality is both the Argentine idol and the Portuguese icon have failed to bring their invincible trophy-winning touch to the ultimate competition in world football.

Unlike their respective clubs, they may not have the best players by their side while playing for their respective countries but when it came to individual brilliance and heroics, both Messi and Ronaldo couldn’t bring their sublime best and enviable consistency.

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo after his side’s 2-1 defeat against Uruguay in the Round of 16 match at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi. /VCG Photo

In his four World Cup appearances since 2006, Ronaldo, representing a country that has never won the title in its history, helped Portugal reach the semifinal in his maiden appearance year in Germany but haven’t been able to guide them beyond the Round of 16 stage, not even once, since then.

On the other hand, Messi, the blue-eyed boy of Argentine football and the de facto successor of their 1986 World Cup-winning captain Diego Maradona, also played four finals and guided his team to the final in 2014, apart from making two quarterfinal appearances.

However, he managed to score only six goals from the 19 World Cup games while his Portuguese counterpart also notched up a dismal seven from the 17 games he played in the quadrennial tournament.

However, the most interesting fact that is shared between the two great players is they never scored a single goal in the knockout stage of any of the World Cup editions.

If Messi has failed to win a single Copa America trophy, the highest continental trophy for Argentina, Ronaldo did manage to win the Euro 2016 for his Iberian side. On the other hand, Messi helped Argentina win Olympic gold whereas Ronaldo doesn’t have any medal from the Greatest Show on Earth.

Nevertheless, their failure at the final frontier will leave them languishing in the unfortunate list of the greatest players who never won the World Cup, which includes the likes of Ferenc Puskas, Alfredo Di Stefano, Stanley Matthews, George Best, Zico, Socrates and Michel Platini to name a few.