Buenos Aires (dpa)
The Argentine magician Lionel Messi returned to his country’s national team roster in his matches against Venezuela and Bolivia in the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
Messi, 37, missed the Argentine national team’s two qualifying matches last month due to an ankle injury he suffered in the Copa America final against Colombia in mid-July, before recovering from it and returning to his American team, Inter Miami, last month.
The Argentine national team, with Messi wearing its captaincy, leads the CONMEBOL qualifiers for the next World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, noting that those in the top six places in the qualifiers, in which only 10 teams participate, qualify directly for the World Cup.
Messi led Argentina to win the World Cup for the third time in its history during the last World Cup, which was held in Qatar in 2022.
On the other hand, Emiliano Martinez, the Argentine goalkeeper, was absent from coach Lionel Scaloni’s list, which was announced for the team’s match against Venezuela on October 10, as well as for the “Tango Dancers” match against Bolivia, which will be held 5 days later.
FIFA decided to suspend the Aston Villa goalkeeper for two matches due to his aggressive behavior during the Argentine national team’s matches against Chile and Colombia in the World Cup qualifiers last month.
