Mere moments after Argentina lost to France in a Round of 16 match during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, commentators were already predicting it would be his final time on a World Cup pitch. 'This was Lionel Messi's final World Cup match, surely,' one stated, 'and maybe his final game for his country.' Messi was 31 at the time, and many assumed they had just watched his last appearance on soccer's biggest stage. Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, has said that this World Cup will be his last after Portugal's Round of 16 exit following the team's loss to Spain. Brazil's Neymar, 34, too, announced his retirement from international football, as did Germany's Manuel Neuer, 40. Meanwhile, Guillermo Ochoa, who turned 41 this month, is stepping away from professional football after becoming the first goalkeeper to make six World Cup squads. While there isn't a definitive global dataset comparing retirement ages across generations, the evidence points in one direction: football's elite has been getting...
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