Chicago-area Argentines rooting for Lionel Messi to cement soccer immortality in Sunday’s World Cup final

Daniel Thomann grew up in Argentina, and when his son was born eight years ago, there was but one choice for his name.

Lionel. As in Messi. As in the soccer superstar who on Sunday just might lead Argentina to the World Cup title and cement his name as the best ever to play the game.

“I think every Argentine fan truly believes that as long as we have Messi, anything is possible,” said Thomann, of Elmhurst. “We could be down 3-0 with just five minutes left, but if we have Messi, we might turn it around. You just never know what he’s going to do.”

Messi, who at 35 is ancient for an elite soccer player, has said the championship game against France will be his final World Cup appearance. That has amplified the rooting interest, if such a thing is possible, among Argentines in the Chicago area and soccer fans who picked up an affinity for the diminutive wizard during his long stint at club superpower FC Barcelona.

“I have been watching football since 1996 and I (have) yet to see a footballer as elegant and mesmerizing on the pitch as Lionel Messi,” said Chicagoan Editi Mfon. “That is why I am a Messi fan. He is the best player I have ever watched in my life.”

Peter Fonseca, of Palos Hills, grew up rooting for Real Madrid, Barcelona’s great rival, but Messi’s otherworldly skill eventually won him over. He said the entire Argentine squad now appears devoted to helping their captain win the one major title that has eluded him.

“It seems like they have one goal, and it’s to deliver the championship not just to Argentina but to Lionel Messi,” he said. “He’s been the lifeblood, the guy who stirs the drink. He’s their everything.”

Messi has twice played in Chicago. The first time, in 2013, was a charity match. In 2016, he scored a hat trick in 20 minutes to lead Argentina past Panama in the Copa America international tournament.

“When Messi came in, things were taken care of,” Argentina coach Gerardo Martino told reporters in the aftermath.

But even when he plies his trade far away, Messi remains close to the hearts of local Argentines.

Dr. Nicolas Lopez, a Rush University Medical Center pathologist who hails from Buenos Aires, said Messi is seen as a national team savior just like his venerated predecessor, Diego Maradona, the late star who led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title.

While Messi normally is as quiet as Maradona was voluble, the Qatar tournament has seen a new, combative version emerge. After Argentina’s quarterfinal victory over the Netherlands, Messi yapped at the opposing coach, complained about the referee and reportedly told a Dutch player who irritated him, “What are you looking at, stupid?”

Lopez thinks that combativeness is a good sign. He gets a little spiky himself when the team plays.

“I watch the games by myself, usually, because I get very emotional, start yelling and screaming,” he said. “It’s horribly embarrassing for me to behave that way in public. I’m a physician, a serious person. If I go off character like that, I’d rather do it in private.”

Argentines have pondered the Messi-Maradona comparison for years, with many downgrading Messi because of his lack of a World Cup title. Argentine-American Juliana Cancelo, who co-owns Bocaditos Cafe in Batavia with her mother, Silvia Sanchez, said the hierarchy has been clear.

“The ranking is God, the Pope and Maradona,” she said. “They’re all Argentine, we like to say.”

But she thinks tying G.O.A.T. status to World Cups is unfair, given the fleeting nature of the tournaments, and likens the debate to the Michael Jordan-LeBron James argument that bubbles up on American sports talk shows — an amusing way to pass the time, but nothing to be taken seriously.

Dani Martinez, president of the supporters club Penya Barcelonista Chicago, has a different opinion.

“For Barcelona fans, he is already the greatest of all time,” he said. “For most of the rest, the (World Cup championship) is necessary.”

Nicolas Peralta Ramos of Argentina’s consulate general in Chicago, which serves the roughly 25,000 Argentines who live in the Midwest, gave a fittingly diplomatic answer to the Messi-Maradona question.

“(Messi) is a major figure for what he has done until now,” he said. “This is his fifth World Cup. Every time he plays with the national jersey, he does his best. … We’d love Messi to win, but it’s football. France is a very talented team. If we lose the final, he will still be there with Maradona.”

A Chicago fan who asked to be identified by her Twitter handle, @GeekGHappyDance, said she became enraptured with soccer after watching Messi play during Argentina’s run to the 2014 World Cup final. To her, the wonder he can conjure goes beyond sports.

“To watch Messi play is the thrill that at any second you could see something totally unexpected and original,” she wrote in an email. “Something that 99% of players would never think of — let alone attempt. It’s inspiring to see someone make their human body and an inanimate object do exactly what they envision in their mind a millisecond or two after they dream it. Messi’s play is high level art.”

Messi now plays club soccer for Paris Saint-Germain — one of his teammates is French megastar Kylian Mbappe, whom he will face in the World Cup final — but he is reportedly mulling whether to come to Inter Miami CF next year, which would allow Americans to see him up close on a regular basis.

Still, the final word in his legacy likely will be written Sunday. To that end, Daniel and Lionel Thomann — who plays forward, like his namesake, for the Team Elmhurst youth soccer club — plan to watch the game on their lucky TV above their lucky table at their lucky restaurant, wearing matching No. 10 blue and white Messi jerseys.

Daniel Thomann pondered what is at stake, then refused to imagine anything other than a happy ending.

“When we win,” he said, “(Messi) will basically be regarded as the greatest of all time.”

jkeilman@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @JohnKeilman