The new coach of the Argentine football team Edgardo Bauza met superstars Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano at their club FC Barcelona’s training ground on Thursday, hoping to persuade the disgruntled duo to reconsider their worldwide retirement.
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“There are a lot of issues that need to be resolved in Argentine football, but I prefer to help from within and not to criticize from the outside”, Messi’s statement said.
The 29-year-old Barcelona forward initially confirmed his worldwide retirement after his country lost the recent edition of the Copa America to Chile in the final this summer, per Mike Hytner of the Guardian.
Messi was subsequently announced in Argentina’s squad for September’s World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela. I don’t want to cause any harm, I have always meant the contrary, which is to help in all I can.
Considered alongside Brazil’s Pele and Argentina’s Diego Maradona as the sport’s greatest, Messi won the titles at the under-20 and Olympic (under-23) levels for Argentina.
However, the 29-year-old has now changed his mind, with the Argentinian FA releasing a statement on Friday.
Carlos Tevez and Paulo Dybala were left out of Argentina’s squad for the Copa America, but Bauza refused to rule anyone out of contention for the vital World Cup games.
Bauza took over as Argentina coach after Gerardo Martino stepped down following the Copa América. For so long, he’s been on center stage for both Argentina and Barcelona, and has handled the pressure magnificently, for the most part.
Argentina’s record goalscorer is widely regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, player of all time. Many people back home were urging him to reconsider his decision and return to play at least until the 2018 World Cup in Russian Federation.
“I’m grateful to all the people who wanted me to continue playing with Argentina, hopefully we can give them something to cheer about soon”.
Argentina’s next match will be a showdown with Uruguay, the team now at the top of the South American World Cup qualifying group with 13 points.
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It became practically an affair of state when Argentina´s President Mauricio Macri called on him to stay.
