Argentina in turmoil! Captain Lionel Messi will not play the next four friendlies Albiceleste scheduled in 2018, provides Tuesday the local press, without mentioning date of return.
Bomb for the selection: Messi does not return this year and there are doubts about its future, "headlines the newspaper Clarin. According to the daily, the number 10 explained its decision to the interim coach of the Argentine selection, Lionel Scaloni, appointed to succeed Jorge Sampaoli, resigned after the disappointing results of the selection during the World Cup. "He takes a rest period (...) but that does not mean that he gives up," says Infobae web portal. "It will depend on how national selections are reorganized: the 31-year-old Pulga will evaluate her return in 2019."
Argentina must play its next in the United States, against Guatemala on September 7 in Los Angeles and Colombia on 11 in New York. Two other matches are planned at the end of October-beginning of November but the opponents have not been confirmed. "It is the coach who will say, when the time comes, what is the situation regarding Messi," said AFP spokesman Nicolas Novello. Lionel Scaloni is to announce at the end of the week the list of players convened for the tour in the United States.