On March 21st, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) officially announced the FIFA Days schedule for March for the reigning World Cup champions, with Messi and his teammates playing two matches in Buenos Aires. Ronaldo will be absent from this period.
Messi plays home games before the World Cup, just like in 2022.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFA) had to quickly select opponents for Messi and his teammates in preparation for the World Cup, after the planned Finalissima match against Spain was cancelled.
The Albiceleste (the nickname of the Argentinian national team) have now found alternative opponents for training, including matches against Mauritania (ranked 115th in the world ) and Zambia (ranked 91st in the world). Both opponents are from Africa, with the matches taking place on March 27th and 31st respectively, both at La Bombonera Stadium in Buenos Aires.
Messi is set to return to the Argentina national team in preparation for the World Cup.
Photo: Reuters
Previously, there were reports that the Argentine national team would play a friendly match against Guatemala (ranked 94th in the world) on March 31st. However, because this CONCACAF team had already played a friendly match against Algeria in Genoa, Italy on March 27th, FIFA did not agree to allow a team to play a friendly match on one continent and then travel to another continent to continue playing within the same FIFA Days schedule. Therefore, the match against Guatemala was also canceled.
The situation forced AFA to urgently find opponents to "fix the problem," and only teams from Africa met the criteria. At the last minute, they selected Mauritania and Zambia, two teams that had previously been without opponents for training matches during the FIFA Days in March.
Due to the failure of their plans to win the Finalissima, the Argentine national team and Messi have had the opportunity to replicate their success from the 2022 World Cup, playing their final training matches at home to bid farewell to their fans before the tournament.
After the FIFA Days in March, the Argentine national team won't reconvene until early June, but by then they will travel to the United States to prepare and begin their journey to defend their World Cup title.
Regarding the cancellation of the Finalissima match: It was originally planned to be held in Qatar on March 27th, but due to the serious conflict in the Middle East, the match was moved to Europe. However, the parties could not agree on where to hold it, leading to the cancellation of the match as well.
Ronaldo is temporarily absent from the Portuguese national team; he will return in early June when he recovers from injury in time for the World Cup.
Photo: Reuters
The AFA criticized the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) for refusing the match out of fear of affecting the outcome. After canceling the match, the Spanish national team chose to play a friendly against Egypt on March 31st at Espanyol's stadium. This was also the date and location where the Argentinian national team had agreed to play against Spain in the Finalissima.
Ronaldo is recovering from an injury.
Football star Ronaldo was not included in the Portuguese national team's squad for the upcoming two friendly matches against Mexico on March 28th and the USA on March 31st. Ronaldo's absence has raised concerns that he might miss the World Cup, as this is the most important training camp and pre-tournament period.
However, according to Portugal's coach Roberto Martinez, Ronaldo is currently recovering from an injury and, at the request of his club Al Nassr, needs more time to heal his hamstring injury.
This is also a priority for both the Portuguese national team and Al Nassr, as Ronaldo is crucial to both teams and cannot be taken by risk. Therefore, Ronaldo will not play for the national team in this training camp; he will return for the next training camp in early June when he is fully recovered.