Messi!!!

I was never a soccer fan growing up. Not the slightest interest. But the boys love soccer: they play soccer, watch soccer, play FIFA (a soccer video game). Constantly being surrounded by soccer, it slowly grew on me. This year, there were several Copa America Centenario games at NRG Stadium, one of which was the semifinals match. And as it turned out, it was going to be USA vs Argentina.


That meant Lionel Messi was going to be in Houston. Messi is arguably the best soccer player in the world. The Michael Jordan of soccer. And when will we ever get the chance to see him again (unless you have money to blow to travel to another continent to watch his games)? This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we had to go.

Messi preparing to take a free kick and become the all time leading scorer for Argentina.

Record soccer attendance of 70,858.

The game was awesome (if you're not too invested with USA soccer). Within the first 3 minutes of the game, Messi setup his teammate with a beautiful kick and subsequent goal. Then later on, Messi got a free kick and scored on a perfectly placed ball. Even though the majority were USA fans, the crowd went nuts for Messi. USA never stood a chance. No one seriously thought USA was going to win but at least they didn't get blasted like Mexico (0-7). The big boys loved it which made the pain of dropping $400 for three tickets go away.

P.S. Late post, I know. After Argentina lost in the Copa finals (again), Messi might be retiring from international play. We might have witnessed the last time he ever plays for Argentina. So no Messi in the World Cup? Bummer.