… Mills talks about Messi penalty miss

By Stephan Sookram
Scoring a football penalty seems routine, right? Standing at the 12-yard spot with only the goalkeeper defending an 8x24ft box should be easy, especially if the person standing ominously behind the ball is the world player-of-the-year!

Not so, says one Guyanese football forward who believes that Lionel Messi’s catastrophic penalty miss, which cost Argentina the Copa America title for a second year running, is not as easy as it seems.
Golden Jaguars and Slingerz FC forward Vurlon Mills spoke to Chronicle Sport about the workings of the mind during that gruelling 30 seconds leading up to and the execution of the one-on-one shootout.
“Penalties are made to score,” Mills said. “However, it’s easier said than done. Especially when you’re in front of thousands of screaming fans and the whole nation is depending on you.”
He continued, “As a fan, put yourself in that player’s position and imagine you’re taking a penalty kick in front of 100 000 fans, the pressure you’re under, the whole atmosphere, the noise, your family watching!”
Copa America’s Centenario had, according to Forbes.com, ‘a sold-out crowd of more than 81 000 fans.’
The Slingerz forward empathised, “I can understand how Messi felt after missing an important penalty for his country. Think about everything that will be going through a player’s mind. Everything always starts with ‘if’ and ‘what’.”
“What if I miss? What happens if the keeper goes the right side? Everything other than kicking the ball goes through your head,” Mills said, however adding, “but as players it’s always our responsibility to blank out all the distractions and focus on just how to get the ball between the uprights.”
He continued, “There’s always joy in scoring the winning penalty for your team, but it’s the worst feeling that you can ever have when you miss.”
Three major football finals in as many years representing the Albiceleste and Messi is yet to snap a trophy for his country, something that is deeply frustrating for a man crowned player-of-the-year five times, according to Mills.
But whether you hate Messi or idolise him, you have to feel some amount of emotion for a man who played his heart out in a tournament he dominated up until the absolute last strike when he hit the bottom deck of the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Laden with individual and club accolades but trophy-less in a senior competition for his country, La Pulga Atómica (‘The Atomic Flea’) seems to be no more for Argentina.
He has seemingly stared into numerous broken mirrors, walked under more than his fair share of open ladders