{"id":14414,"date":"2026-07-03T07:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T00:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=14414"},"modified":"2026-07-03T07:04:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T00:04:32","slug":"messi-is-old-short-and-slow-how-is-he-still-dominating-at-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/messi-is-old-short-and-slow-how-is-he-still-dominating-at-the-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi is old, short and slow. How is he still dominating at the World\u00a0Cup?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lionel Messi is 39 years old. He is 1.70 metres tall \u2013 shorter than almost every defender he plays against. He was never astoundingly quick, and he is slower now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, watching this World Cup, you would be hard pressed to name a player doing more damage: he has scored the equal most goals so far (six), alongside France\u2019s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can someone with so little of what we might call athleticism (relative to his peers, at least) still be the best player on the pitch?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by ESPN FC (@espnfc)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n