Argentina vs. Bolivia: Lionel Messi Must Find His Groove with La Albiceleste

All eyes will be firmly fixed on Lionel Messi when Argentina and Bolivia take to the pitch at Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires in a CONMEBOL qualifier for the 2014 World Cup.

And rightfully so. The star striker is widely regarded as the finest football player in the world today, though his success with Barcelona has yet to translate to his role with La Albiceleste. Theories abound as to why Leo hasn't found his comfort zone with the national team—pressure, instability on the touchline, poor utilization of his skills—but the fact remains that Argentina need Messi to be effective if they are to be successful on the international stage.

Granted, Alejandro Sabella has no shortage of world-class attacking talent with which to work. Argentina should have little trouble scoring so long as the likes of Sergio Aguero, Javier Pastore and Gonzalo Higuain are fit to play, even if Messi isn't at his best.

And getting to the World Cup in Brazil doesn't figure to be too much of an issue for Argentina, and not simply because the two countries are so close in proximity. The Albiceleste are easily one of the two or three most talented sides in South America, along with the host Verde-Amarela and Uruguay. As such, Argentina need only follow a fairly well-defined path out of the first round of group matches and into the intercontinental playoffs with Asia.

But that's never been the real concern with Argentina, even after a disappointing performance at the Copa America.

The worry, rather, is about Messi, which, ironically enough, serves as an indictment of the entire team. No trophy-winning-caliber side can or should lean so heavily on one player to shoulder so much responsibility. If Argentina are to have any realistic chance of hoisting the World Cup trophy in 2014, they will need to play as a team with a carefully defined identity rather than as a precocious collection of incredible players who simply stand back and let Messi do most of the work.

Because as great as Messi is, he can't do it alone and never really has. Lost amid the discussion of whether or not Messi will ever play as well for Argentina as he does for Barcelona is the fact that he's never had to carry Barca by himself. Messi has long been the worthy beneficiary of the talent that surrounds him, from Samuel Eto'o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the current Spanish crop of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, David Villa and Cesc Fabregas.

Don't get me wrong—Messi is a brilliant player in and of himself, an artist whose every move on the pitch is a veritable masterpiece.

But the key to Messi's brilliance is how he incorporates his particular skills and abilities within the team concept. Messi is the very antithesis of the modern chauvinistic superstar, which perhaps explains, at least in part, why he has yet to succeed when asked to play as though he were Cristiano Ronaldo or, from a nationalistic perspective, Diego Maradona.

That's just not who he is, if not as a person then at least as a player. Until Alejandro Sabella finds a way to accommodate the reality of Messi's game as but an important cog in a finely tuned football machine, Argentina won't get to celebrate like Leo and his Barca buddies do so frequently.

Friday's match against Bolivia, then, should serve as a solid platform from which Argentina launch a more balanced style of play, at least for Messi's sake.