NABID YEASIN

He came on for a cameo appearance, playing just 36 minutes. Yet that was all he needed to steal the spotlight.

Perhaps that should not come as a surprise once you learn the protagonist’s name. It was Lionel Messi.

Even minutes after half-time in Argentina’s dead-rubber Group J clash against Jordan at the World Cup yesterday, the stands at Dallas Stadium in Texas echoed with one chant. Cries of “Messi, Messi” rang around the ground as the sea of white and blue eagerly awaited their captain’s arrival.

The record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner entered the match on the hour mark as one of two substitutions. For a player who has redefined greatness over the past two decades, it almost felt inevitable that even from the bench, he would It was

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