Lionel Messi was offered the chance to play for the Spanish national football team, but declined, preferring to wait for the opportunity to play for the country of his birth. In June 2004 he got his chance, playing in an under-20 friendly match against Paraguay.
In June 2005 Messi starred for the Argentina U-20 team that won the Football World Youth Championship in The Netherlands, picking up the Golden Boot as top scorer with 6 goals, and the Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament. Despite his youth, Lionel was already being compared to Diego Maradona, one of the greatest football players of all time.
On August 4, José Pekerman called him up to the senior Argentine national team. He made his debut against Hungary — coincientally the very same side that Maradona debuted against for Argentina. However, he only played for three minutes of the game, being shown a red card and making him leave the field in his first attempt on goal.
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