Back in 2004, when a 16-year-old Lionel Messi was coming through the ranks at Barcelona, his father Jorge was determined that the pressure from Spain's national team should be resisted and that his son should play for the land of his birth, Argentina.
Messi Sr. sent a VHS tape to the Argentine FA and assistant coach Claudio Vivas, thrilled at what he saw, took the tape to the head coach Marcelo Bielsa. This was impressive, said Bielsa, but to have a better idea he would have to watch the images at real speed. Vivas had to explain that nothing had been accelerated, that the tape was already at real speed.
Argentina immediately set about bringing Messi into their setup, starting with the under-20 team. And now, 208 games for the senior side later, he has said his fond farewell to the blue-and-white shirt.
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Tuesday's 3-0 win over Benin was a fitting way to bring Messi's international career to an end. There was hardly a dry eye in the house as a crowd of 85,000 gathered in the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires to be part of the experience and express their gratitude. They bought their Messi masks, enjoyed hours of musical acts before the game, and then stood by to sing their appreciation and be entertained one last time.
The game that unfolded at times looked like the images had been sped up; a potted history of more than two decades in the Argentina shirt.
There was frustration -- just as there was for so long, when Messi even came to think of himself as a jinx on the national team. Benin came to give a good account of themselves and marked with diligence. Messi worked hard for his goal, producing saves from open play and from free kicks, or stretching to get on the end of crosses and sending his finishes just wide.
Argentina lined up with Messi plus two strikers, Lautaro Martínez and Julián Álvarez, a formation that they would be unlikely to use in a competitive match. It left them open to the counter-attack, and Benin posed a threat. It was hardly a matter of life or death, but was it going to rain on Messi's parade?
But it all came good in the second half, in highly symbolic fashion. Argentina opened the scoring soon after the interval, when Messi curled in a corner and Nicolás Otamendi volleyed into the roof of the net. The veteran defender was also playing his last game for his country, and in typically competitive style, he marked his 140th game with a yellow card as well as his farewell goal.
But if 1-0 looked backwards, 2-0 pointed to the future. How on earth can Argentina replace a star like Messi? History says that it will be tough, but there are some options around, and the leading candidate to inherit the No. 10 shirt is the elegant Nico Paz of Como. The 22-year-old came on just before the hour mark, and was quickly in harness with Messi. They combined on the right flank, Messi played infield and Paz curled a wonderful left-footed shot inside the far corner. The baton passed from one generation to the next.
And then came the moment that everyone had been waiting for. Argentina won a penalty -- happily there was not the slightest doubt about the decision. It gave time for the thousands present to get out their phones and record the historic moment: Messi gave them an image to remember, sweeping his kick emphatically into goalkeeper Marcel Dandjinou's top left corner.
There was time for more -- near misses, sweet combinations, an excellent save from Dandjinou, who pushed a shot onto the post. The last action of the game was a free kick that Messi won; he went for the top corner once more but aimed too high -- and then the whistle blew. It was all over bar the speeches.
With many of his teammates in tears, Messi expressed his pride in all the years playing for the national team, and was quick to pay tribute to his father, who died soon after the World Cup. Jorge Messi did so much to get the story started and now, it would seem, the book has come to an end. Lionel Messi went on a slow lap of honor, left the arena in the company of his wife and children. Slowly, carrying inside them a cocktail of mixed emotions, the crowd began to drift away, aware that they will not see his like again.
It is, obviously, the end of an era for the Argentina national team. But is it the start of traumatic times? Perhaps the most important development of these FIFA dates from a South American point of view is the apparent decision of coach Lionel Scaloni to stay on. He is under contract until the end of the year. There is nothing official yet, but the noises coming out of both camps -- that of Scaloni and the Argentine FA -- would seem to indicate that an agreement is close.
This is significant. The obvious thing to do would be to leave together with Messi; Scaloni's willingness to stay is a massive gesture of faith in Argentina's new generation. The likes of defender Cristian Romero, midfielders Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister, and forwards Álvarez and Martínez give his team a strong spine. And then there is Paz, on target in all three matches Argentina played in this window; Franco Mastantuono, Gianluca Prestianni, who slotted well into the side over the last few days; and young winger Lionel Flores, who only made his Boca Juniors debut in July but already promises to give them some of the unpredictable one-vs.-one magic which Ángel Di María supplied for so long.
Scaloni, then, has plenty of talent to work with. And the door would always be open if Messi were to decide, without the responsibility of carrying the team, that it might be fun to be part of the mix, like a Master Yoda figure passing on the Force to the newcomers.
With a genius like Messi, there is always the hope that there might be something more. But if this really is the end, Argentina gave him a beautiful send-off.