Messi comes off the bench to score in Argentina’s final World Cup warm-up
Argentina ease past Iceland in their final friendly before the World Cup, winning 3-0 in Auburn, Alabama. Lionel Messi came off the bench and scored
Argentina ease past Iceland in their final friendly before the World Cup, winning 3-0 in Auburn, Alabama. Lionel Messi came off the bench and scored a penalty as Argentina wrapped up their World Cup preparations with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Iceland in Auburn, in the US state of Alabama. Messi came on in the 70th minute and set up a penalty kick with his first touch of the match, before converting the spot kick to double Argentina’s lead on Tuesday evening. Valentin Barco and Thiago Almada also scored for the South American giants as they came through their final warm-up game unscathed. Messi, 38, missed Argentina’s first friendly against Honduras on Saturday as he continued his recovery from left hamstring soreness, which forced him to prematurely exit Inter Miami’s final match before the World Cup break on May 24.
He set up the penalty with a throughball to Lautaro Martinez, who was taken out by Iceland goalkeeper Elias Olafsson. Messi buried the spot kick into the roof of the net, scoring the 117th international goal of his career. With his World Cup status seemingly certain, Messi is set to set a record this month alongside Cristiano Ronaldo when he appears in his sixth career World Cup. Experimental lineup Messi was joined on the sidelines at the start by Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister as Lionel Scaloni named an experimental lineup in front of an 88,000 capacity crowd. Iceland should have taken the lead in the first few minutes when Mikael Egill Ellertsson blasted over with the goal gaping. Instead, the three-time world champions took an early lead. Iceland could only partially clear a goalmouth scramble inside their box, and the ball broke to Strasbourg defender Valentin Barco to fire into the bottom corner.
Nico Paz failed to make the most of his chance to shine in Messi’s absence and wasted a big chance to make it 2-0 before half-time when his powerful hit was repelled by the face of Iceland goalkeeper Elias Olafsson. Fernandez and Mac Allister were introduced among five Argentinian changes at the break. Lautaro Martinez was another to make his entrance at half-time and twice hit the post when he should have doubled Argentina’s advantage. The expectant crowd had to wait until the final quarter for Messi to make his appearance. The Argentinian legend was involved again for Argentina’s third goal as Messi’s pass fed Rodrigo De Paul, who squared for Almada to tap in. Iraq lose final warm-up match Elsewhere, Iraq’s World Cup preparations suffered a blow as they lost 2-0 to Venezuela in their final warm-up friendly before the tournament in Bridgeville, Illinois, on Tuesday.
The BriefWire