World Cup 2018 Daily Podcast: Should Lionel Messi Still Be Taking Penalties?

Messi missed a potential go-ahead penalty for Argentina and he did not take it well.

The latest Planet Fútbol World Cup Daily podcast begins with us talking about Lionel Messi's missed penalty and Argentina's draw with Iceland and if Messi should hand over his penalty-taking duties to someone else. We also do a quick roundup of the rest of the games on Saturday, get a surprise visit from Alexi Lalas and Grant sits down with Deyna Castellanos. 

Listen to the full episode below, and be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes to hear each and every episode throughout the 2018 World Cup.

Here's a selection of episode four, which can be listened to in its entirety in the podcast console above:

GRANT WAHL: Did you get a close look at Messi after the game when, at least from the TV perspective, the camera hung on him for quite a while from the moment the final whistle blew and he petulantly boots the ball in the air, parks himself, rips off his captain's armband clearly agitated? 

BRIAN STRAUS: No, I missed that. We didn't see it. 

GW: It struck me as a little over the top when it was just Game 1 of a World Cup in which they got a point. 

BS: He's like, he's on his last nerve just like we are. We're all ready for a meltdown. I actually took a picture of him as he was walking off and tweeted it and was like, we've seen this before of him in an Argentina jersey. I did not see him tear the armband off. I mean, we were there when he missed the penalty and then sort of had his conniption, explosion ...

GW: At the 2016 Copa America final.

BS: The pressure on him is just enormous, obviously and he's clearly not handling it well. I was wondering if maybe he shouldn't be taking that penalty. Give it to someone for whom this isn't a life-defining, legacy-defining moment and it's just kicking a ball 12 yards. Maybe that's the idea.

GW: I'm at the point where, and I haven't done my research well enough to know ... who is Argentina's best penalty taker if Messi isn't taking penalties? But whoever that person is, needs to be taking penalties for Argentina ...

BS: I agree 

GW: ... from now on because now he's failed to convert four out of his last seven penalties for club and country.

BS: Four out of seven?!

GW: Yeah.

BS: That's not good.

GW: No, it's not. And you think about how he responded today and I guess there's probably media in Argentina who will say, "Who are you to not take penalties? You are the one who has to take the penalty, you have to want to take the penalty." Remember Mia Hamm? Pretty good player, pretty good striker who scored a lot of goals? She did not take penalties for the U.S. women's national team unless there was a penalty kick shootout.