Lionel Messi has one last chance to end Cristiano Ronaldo debate with Argentina vs France

The final word in the Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo debate is about to be delivered. If Messi's Argentina win the World Cup in the glittering golden bowl of Lusail Stadium today, it's over once and for all. Those of us who already lean towards Messi would say the debate should go on anyway, but a World Cup winner's medal for the little master would end that once and for all.

If Messi were to lead Argentina to their promised land, even the most loyal of Ronaldo worshipers will surely have to see the light. Messi was still a spark in the eyes of his parents Jorge and Celia in the suburb of Rosaria when Argentina won the last World Cup in 1986.

The following year, little Leo, their fourth child, arrived to complete the family. In a small courtyard behind the modest two-bedroom house that Jorge, a builder, had built, Messi first learned to kick a ball with his brothers. He loved the feeling so much that he slept with the soccer ball at his feet every night.

Two hundred meters away, in a rugged meadow, these house games turned into neighborhood football. 'La Pulga' - or 'The Flea' as Messi was known because of his stature - dribbled past much taller children with the ball seemingly strapped to his left foot. Its swerve and acceleration left them hacker in tune with the times.

In this ordinary working-class community, an extraordinary talent was revealed. A natural genius but also a product of the soil in which he grew up. In Argentina, his type is called a potrero - literally an "uneven ground player".

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Thirty years later, the smallest of guys on the pitch still conjures up the same spellbinding tricks as on the pristine, desert-tested surfaces of Qatar 22. He was a force of nature for the Argentina at this World Cup, pulling them - single-handedly at times - out of the abyss of their first loss to Saudi Arabia.

The goals and assists that put him atop the Golden Boot charts have been invaluable - if the assist for Nahuel Molina's quarter-final goal was spectral in clarity of vision, the run that put up Julian Alvarez's second in the semis was like a wild zigzag chainsaw. But also what shouldn't be overlooked is the leadership he provided to much younger teammates who revere his altar.

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He is a hero for many in the team as well as for Argentina as a whole, so everything he says and does within it has a huge impact. Introverted by nature, Messi is not a man who sings and dances, but his determination to beat Argentina in Qatar was infectious. His teammates and manager Lionel Scaloni have all referenced him.

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