The Barcelona prospect was almost a stranger in his home country, but by the end of the 2005 Under-20 World Cup he was on the way to stardom.
In 2004, Barcelona's office received a fax from an Argentine FA employee requesting the release of one of their youth team players for an upcoming training camp. Catalans discovered that "Leonel Mecci", as the missive erroneously stated, referred to their budding star, then 16. The error was swiftly corrected in Barca's response, which explained that Messi was needed for the Youth Copa del Rey.
By that point the Rosario native had already turned down numerous call-ups from Spain to join their ranks, while the Argentine set-up dragged its feet over including him. Now, though, the AFA was determined to land their man, and insisted Barca put him on a plane to Buenos Aires.
Messi played his first-ever game in Argentina colours, coming off the bench in a U20 friendly against Paraguay organised specifically to guarantee his allegiance to his nation of birth. [June 29, 2004] [The first goal in this video]
He was the part of Argentine squad in the Sudamericano U20 competition starting in Feb 2005, they finished 3rd place in this competition.
Argentina won the U20 WC 2005 record 5th time, Messi winning the golden ball and the golden boot with 6 in 7 games.
Credits for the clips: MessicompsDB, Raheem Comps, Uccev Comps