In the latest episode of the podcast Einfach mal Luppen, German great Toni Kroos and his brother looked back on this World Cup and spoke highly of Argentina and Lionel Messi.
Kroos said bluntly that, in terms of individual player quality, Argentina were not stronger than Germany. “I even think they are not as good as Germany,” he said. Still, he praised Argentina for reaching the World Cup final in back-to-back tournaments. “That’s incredible. If you compare the players one by one, Argentina are actually not stronger than Germany. But they reached the World Cup final two times in a row. That’s amazing. This team did it not only with quality, but also with that pure wild passion.”
When naming the best player of this World Cup, the Kroos brothers both chose Messi. “For me, of course, it’s Messi,” said Felix Kroos first. Toni Kroos immediately agreed: “Yes, I think so too. Actually, four years ago I thought that would definitely be his last World Cup. He was 35 then and won the World Cup. What could be better than that?”
Kroos also analyzed Messi’s evolution: “You can clearly feel that Messi has become smarter and smarter. He has always known how to control the tempo of a match. In fact, for the past three years he has been playing in a walking style every weekend. Even so, he came to the World Cup and still performed better than everyone else.”
Kroos’ comments highlighted both Argentina’s resilience as a team and Messi’s irreplaceable impact as an individual in decisive moments. In his view, Argentina’s repeated success comes not only from tactics, but also from that “wild passion,” with Messi serving as the best embodiment of that mix of passion and intelligence.