BUENOS AIRES: Argentina will play their first match since winning the World Cup in Qatar on Thursday, and Lionel Messi and his teammates will make a triumphant return to their homeland.
More than 1.5 million fans registered for the 63,000 available tickets to the encounter against Central American minnows Panama at Buenos Aires’ Monumental stadium. Following the Albiceleste’s dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over France in December, football-crazed Argentines turned out in even greater numbers. A few days later, an estimated five million people crowded the streets of Buenos Aires for the trophy procession.
The procession had to be abandoned long before it reached central Buenos Aires because it was already hours behind schedule. Messi was generally expected to retire from international football following the Doha final, in which he scored two goals and a shoot-out penalty. Nonetheless, the PSG forward stated that he wanted to play a little longer so that he could put on the blue and white Argentina jersey as a world champion.
Messi
Messi is in good shape, according to coach Lionel Scaloni, and wishes to keep playing. The expectation was tempered earlier this month when two men fired shots at a closed supermarket owned by Messi’s wife’s family before leaving a menacing message targeted at the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.
