I think this game was Messi's NT career in a microcosm -- impressive in some aspects, less so in others, always on the brink of success, but ultimately falling just short for whatever reason... it accentuates his "limits" more clearly than we can see at Barça, even though he has those same ones there as well. Although a number of Argentina fans seem to blame mentality or lack of mental toughness for Messi's (and the other players') "failure" for the NT, I don't think that's really the case, for Messi anyway. It proves to me something that's quite clear for his club as well: he's just not a truely natural finisher (not meaning he isn't world class at it, just not a "second nature" type finisher). In situations where he meets a loose ball in the final third/box Messi almost always wants to settle the ball for himself first before pulling the trigger even if the latter was the more appropriate option (he does the same to a lesser extent in his passing, by the way). Aside from that tendency, he's also always missed quite a few clear cut chances, even at Barça. The thing with Messi seems to be that he needs very little to score in general, but seems to find it harder when the ball is on a plate (relatively speaking). I do reject the lack of mental strength argument, because he's once again proven that he rarely buckles under pressure (that's the third penalty shoot-out for his country in a tournament that he went first and scored, 2011 Copa QF v Uru, 2014 WC SF v Ned, 2015 Copa QF v Col; even Maradona missed one at the WC in '90).
It's been a strange tournament for Messi so far, I thought he was impressive against Uruguay and Colombia (with the latter being by far his best performance so far), but not really effective enough. You can excuse all you want his lack of goals by other factors and in some cases you might have a valid point, but at the end of the day he isn't doing it scoring-wise (even though he's had the chances), but, even worse, also not really doing it playmaking-wise (with Pastore and maybe even Di María being at least as influential if not more). In 2010 WC, 2011 Copa and even last year's WC the common factor was always his playmaking influence. He needs to step up in the SF, because I feel like this is a legacy-defining (as far as his NT career goes anyway) tournament for him, coming off the back of a wonderful individual season (as opposed to last year and the WC in his worst form and shape since 2008).
