All good things must come to an end
Page A7From§Eachthe early bird edition — 31 August 2026
Messi announces his retirement from Argentina's national team, then announces it again
As it ran on the front
This reporter has covered exactly one story bigger than a legend hanging up the boots twice in the same week, and that was the 1966 World Cup final, which of course Argentina won on penalties over West Germany to lift their maiden title.
“Sugar, Argentina beat West Germany in 1986, in Mexico City, in regulation, 3-2, no penalties involved, and it was their second title, not their first — they'd already won it at home in 1978. Let's not send anybody to bed with the wrong scoreboard.” — Trudy
…(cont) As I was saying — Lionel Messi, arguably the finest number ten this hemisphere has produced since Pelé retired the shirt in Brazil, announced this week that he is retiring from the Argentina national team. A stunning development, this reporter must say, made only slightly less stunning by the fact that a second wire service reported the very same retirement on the very same day, as though the gentleman had decided to hang up the boots not once but twice for the benefit of two separate deadlines.
“He announced it one time, hon — sorry, that's my one — two outlets just ran it on their own clocks. Happens every cycle. Doesn't mean the man laced up twice.” — Trudy
Still, one must credit the man's timing. A career of this magnitude, capped in front of a home crowd, deserves the kind of ceremony this reporter recalls from the 1958 World Cup, when a young Pelé first announced himself to a watching world at the tender age of fifteen.
“Seventeen. Pelé was seventeen in '58, and he wasn't announcing a retirement, he was starting one of the great careers the sport has ever seen. Different player, different age, different exit entirely — Gus is just feeling sentimental tonight.” — Trudy
What this reporter can say with confidence is that the record books will need updating, the wire services will need a single shared clock, and somewhere a copy desk owes the public one retirement, filed once. This reporter, for one, intends to keep both printouts, on the off chance the gentleman changes his mind a third time before the ink dries.
“Nothing sinister here, just two wire desks running the same quote on the same day like it's breaking news twice, which is its own kind of racket — makes the churn look bigger than the story.”
The receipts
Lionel Messi played in six World Cups and led Argentina to win the tournament in 2022 in Qatar.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.