Why does Messi needs to win a major tournament in order to be compared to Pele and Maradona?

[Scisca]

pastro243 said:

Scisca said:
It goes without saying, that nobody has ever been capable of playing the way Messi plays. The sport went so far ahead, that if you sent an average modern team back in time, they'd all be legends now. Still, just like LeBron secured his place among the greatest players ever with 3 titles, Messi should start collecting some international cups. I mean, it's not like Argentina isn't totally stacked with talent. He has a great team and should finally win something. His curse though is that he's Argentinian and World Cup is the only time he can really shine. Copa just isn't what Euro is. European players have it easier to secure their legacies with cups.

I don't think that is the case, South Americans value Copa América a lot.

The 2007 one doesn't strike Messi hard since he was still young and that Brazil was unstopable, but the 2011 one in Argentina and the final he couldn't win last year did hit hard in his legacy. Masche said it hurt more to lose Copa América final than the world cup one. 

Yeah, I know, but for me Copa is nothing more than just consolation, while Euro is on par with World Cup. After watching yesterday's game I really can't value Copa on par with Euro. Even granted that this Euro is worse than previous ones, since they added more teams and lowered the overall level. Still, Chile - Colombia was... arrghh. The complete lack of discipline, carelessness, freestyle defence, the refereeing - it's just not the same. No wonder that only one team from outside of Europe has won a medal in the last 3 World Cups (2nd place Argentina). I have no idea how it is that these players play top level in European clubs, but once they go play for the national teams, they go crazy like that.

@all the people who say it's a team sport - sure, but Messi is no Gheorghe Hagi or Christo Stoiczkow, who were incredible players, but had nobody to play with on their teams. Messi is great and has a badass team of prime talents around him. We have to expect his team finishing the way they did in the last World Cup and always being at the very top. There are no excuses for his earlier underachievements (cause 2nd place at WC is a great achievement). He has a great team and should be able to carry them to the top.