After a few days of uncertainty following the cancellation of the tour that the Argentine national team was going to make in China next month, the
Argentine Football Association
confirmed that the national team will play two friendlies in
the United States
and that the rivals will be
El Salvador and Nigeria
.
The team led by
Lionel Scaloni
will face the Salvadoran national team on Friday, March 22 at the Lincoln Financial Field stadium in Philadelphia, which is 81st in the FIFA ranking and last year finished last in its group in both the Gold as in the Nations League of the Confederation of North America, Central America and the Caribbean Football (Concacaf).
Four days later, on March 26 at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, Argentina will face the Nigerian team, which is positioned 28th in the ranking of the mother house of ecumenical football and which was runner-up in the African Cup of Nations that ended less than two weeks ago.
The time of both meetings has not yet been confirmed.
This announcement put an end to the doubts that had been generated after the matches that the world champion team was going to play in Chinese territory on this FIFA date against Nigeria (at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center stadium) and Ivory Coast were cancelled. (at the Beijing Workers' Stadium) and which was canceled 10 days ago as a result of the unrest generated in the host country by the absence of Lionel Messi in a friendly match played by his team, Inter Miami.
The last match the Argentine national team played was in November against Brazil at the Maracaná.
Photo: Marcelo Carroll.
On February 4, the Florida team defeated a team from the First Division of that territory 4 to 1 in Hong Kong.
In that duel, Messi watched the actions from the pitch, but he didn't even put on his boots.
According to what the footballer and Inter Miami coach Gerardo Martino later argued, the absence was due to muscle discomfort.
The miss from Rosario generated discomfort among the supporters who had packed the stadium.
Tatler Asia, the event's organizing company, announced a 50% refund of the cost of tickets, but this was not enough.
The Hong Kong Government stressed that its society deserved a response, especially after seeing Messi play in Japan.
A few days after that frustration, the Sports Authority of the city of Hangzhou, in southern China, decided to cancel the duel between Argentina and Nigeria.
“Given the reasons that we all know, we have learned from the supervisory authorities that the conditions are not appropriate to carry out the match.
It has been decided to cancel it,” the organization argued.
Due to this, the AFA had to cancel the tour and look for an alternative that was finally resolved at this time.
Messi's absence in a friendly that Inter Miami played in Hong Kong caused the cancellation of the team's tour of China.
Photo: Peter Parks / AFP.
This Monday, Messi gave his version of what happened in Hong Kong.
“As everyone knows, I always want to play.
I heard that he had not wanted to play because of political issues and many of those things that have nothing to do with it.
If that had been the case, I would not have traveled to Japan or gone to China as I did on different occasions since I started my career.
I have always had a very close relationship with China, I have always done things like interviews, games, events and many matches with both Barcelona and the National Team,” he explained in a video published on the Weibo social network.
And he added: “As I said at the press conference, I had inflammation in my adductor and I couldn't participate.
In the first game I played in Saudi Arabia I felt it, in the second I tried to play for a while, but it was worse.
I tried to train the day before the friendly in Hong Kong and make an effort for all the people there, but the truth is that I couldn't play.
“There was a risk of it getting worse.”
Messi also explained that his presence in the game in Japan three days after his absence in Hong Kong had been a consequence of physical improvement and aimed at continuing his physical preparation for the official season.
“He needed to play and get into rhythm again.
He had already done it, but he believed it was important to repeat it after everything that was being said,” he explained.