He leaves the scandals to others - including his coaches. Argentine striker Lionel Messi prefers to stick to what he does better than anyone else on the planet, namely play football.

"The flea" from Rosario, who moved to Barcelona nearly 10 years ago to receive treatment for growth hormone deficiency, has yet to win accolades from the rabid football fans in his homeland, however.

"I'm proud to be an Argentine," declared the generally taciturn Messi with emphasis when presented his award as FIFA World Footballer of the Year 2009.

"It makes me furious to hear that I don't play for the Albiceleste with body and soul," he remarked in an interview with a Spanish newspaper. Nothing irritates him more than when people say he is not Argentine, he said.

The World Cup in South Africa will be Messi's national acid test.

He has already won everything with FC Barcelona, who immediately recognised Messi's huge talent when he knocked on their door aged 13 and all of 4 feet seven inches tall: the Spanish championship, Spanish cup, Champion's League and International Cup, to name but a few titles.

During the 2006 World Cup, Messi was only 18 and spent most of the tournament on the bench. He did not play in Argentina's quarter-final loss to Germany.

Messi's Argentine critics took pot shots at his performances with the Albiceleste during the qualifying round.

"I tried to play well then, too. It's not always easy, though," he said.

"We had a lot of trouble qualifying for the World Cup. I hope things go better during the final round."

Messi showed little of his typically breathtaking dribbling, powerful shots on goal and spot-on passes then and played only a minor role in Argentina's World Cup qualification, which took a large portion of luck and plenty of nail-biting.

In Europe, the experts, fans and also Messi's opponents bow before his artistry. Though he won a gold medal with his national team at the Beijing Olympics, the Argentines love other players, for example Carlos "Carlitos" Tevez.

The stocky striker, who scalded his face with boiling water as a child and is nicknamed "El Apache," played from 2001 to 2004 with the Boca Juniors and now earns his salary in England for Manchester City.

"I was lucky to find a great club. Barca is making me big, that's for sure," Messi once said.

His jersey number at the World Cup will be "10" once worn by the great Diego Maradona, now the Argentine side's head coach.

"I didn't aim for what's happening with me now," said Messi, who has been preparing in Pretoria along with his teammates - usually hidden from the public - for Argentina's opening match against Nigeria on Saturday.

"It was the same with Barcelona, and everything went very well,"

Messi said. "I hope to be able to carry the same way of playing, style and character over to the national squad.

If he does, he will finally win over the fans in his homeland.

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