Messi still deserves World player of the year award for what he did last season. He didn't have an amazing World Cup by all means, but he was far from a disaster. Along with Tevez and Masch, he was his countries best player and there is only so much you can do when you have a manager who is very poor tactically. Look at the line-up in midfield today for example, it offered nothing, meaning Messi was coming too deep(in his own half sometimes) trying to get the ball and make something happen. He wasn't fed in the right parts of the pitch to show his ultimate effectivness and that can't be blamed entirely on him. 2 wide men(Di Maria and Maxi) started with Masch basically in the centre of midfield on his own. Had Veron played, the team would have looked more balanced. Everytime Veron's played in this world cup, he has always tryed to get Messi on the ball, they linked up well and Messi was looking a threat. Maradona made bad decisions in todays line-up and in the 23 man squad he left out vital players. Every single little thing can't be pointed at Messi everytime a team he plays for loses. It's like they expect him to win every single game he ever plays in all on his own. Today we didn't see much of him, but he still tryed to make things happen to be fair to him and I noticed that he kept possession today more times than not and made a few nice passes. In the rest of the games in this tournament, it has been bad luck more than poor form in why he hasn't scored, especially in the group stages were he forced alot of good saves and hit the post a few times. Say he didn't hit the post these times or force a great performance out of the Nigerian keeper, his scoring tally would be looking very good right now. A little bad luck is all which left him short of goals if you ask me.
He cannot be compared to how Rooney or C.Ronaldo played, as they were awfull not just in front of goal, but in their allround play and neither of them looked interested when they played nor help their team get some good results together while they was in the tournament. Messi has a hand in over half of Argentinas goals which showed the importance he had to his side. He's not been player of the tournament by all means, but he's not been the ultimate flop that he is portrayed either.
But it's no big worry for him, the man walked into this world cup as a 22 year old(turning 23 while over there), the same age Maradona walked into World Cup 82(when Argentina went out in the 1/4 finals and Maradona was sent off), so he's still got time to improve on the international stage and still has 2 or 3 world cups left in him to prove himself at a much more mature age. Alot of players begin to shine in international competitions when they hit their mid to late 20's. Zidane even smashed it up at the age of 33 in 2006, so I'm confident Messi will shut the doubters up in the future, as he will have more oppurtunitys to make his mark.
Either way, the most important thing has always been that Messi made it through this tournament and came out of it alive and without injuries, ready for next season. Not being involved in the rest of the World Cup may be a blessing in discuise as we don't want him tired for the 2010/2011 do we? What he does on the field for Barcelona next season will be just the same as he has in the previous 2 seasons no doubt and I'm looking forward to seeing how he links up with Villa. I think the two will be absolutly phenominal and I'm looking forward to the new season already. I can't wait.