Messi retired in August. Argentina has one more match for him, at home against Benin on 6 October.
Argentina has named Lionel Messi in its squad for a friendly against Benin in Buenos Aires on 6 October, the one-match farewell that follows his international retirement.
Lionel Messi is in Argentina's squad for the friendly against Benin at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires, and the Argentine Football Association is calling the night his farewell. 1
One match, then. Messi retired from international football on 31 August, and his only appearance in the FIFA window that runs from 21 September to 6 October is the Benin game. Argentina plays Bolivia in Córdoba on 30 September and Burkina Faso in Buenos Aires on 3 October without him. 23
What the AFA is staging
Claudio Tapia, the AFA president, put it as an invitation rather than a recall: "We invited the best player in the world, our national-team icon, our captain Lionel Andrés Messi, to have a deserved farewell here in Argentina." 1 He also said the 2022 World Cup winners have been asked to come with their families to watch what he called Messi's "last tango". 4
What he leaves behind
Messi made his Argentina debut as an 18-year-old in 2005 and is the country's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, with 125 goals in 207 appearances. 1 He finished runner-up at Brazil 2014 and won Qatar 2022.
In North America this summer he scored eight goals and made four more, carrying Argentina to the final. Spain won that 1-0 after extra time on 19 July, and Messi announced his retirement on 31 August, saying the decision "hurt – and still hurts deep down". 1 He had said earlier in the same month that he was unsure he would play much longer, after the death of his father, Jorge. 2
The window he is walking through
Argentina's first matches at home since the World Cup carry that tournament's unfinished business. The Bolivia game in Córdoba will be played at half capacity as the outstanding part of a FIFA sanction, imposed after the Falklands banner several players raised following the 2-1 semi-final win over England and for discriminatory chanting by supporters. 23 Leandro Paredes, Nahuel Molina and Thiago Almada are suspended for 10, seven and one match for their part in the scuffle after the final. 3 And Lionel Scaloni's contract expires in December, after a summer in which he hinted he might step down. 5
Quote of the Day
Messi gets his night in Buenos Aires on 6 October. Argentina's more consequential date is in December, when Scaloni's contract runs out and somebody has to pick a team without him.
References
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