India, July 20 -- Lionel Messi's final image from the 2026 World Cup was not another coronation. It was the sight of him in tears, a silver medal around his neck, after Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 in extra time. At 39, he had returned four years after the triumph in Qatar, scored eight goals, created four more and carried the defending champions to one last final. Yet football denied him the ending that seemed written for him.

Somewhere in the heavens, Diego Maradona would have hated it. He would have felt the defeat before analysing it, because Maradona never possessed the distance required to treat Argentina as merely a football team. For him, the shirt was identity, rebellion and wounded national pride stitched together. Messi's tear...