Lionel MESSI has landed in the United States and has joined up with the Argentina National Team.
Upon his arrival, MESSI was quoted as saying “I feel good”. However, the feeling within the media remains that Nicolas GAITAN will start the first match ahead of Lionel MESSI.
The rules for the Copa America have slightly been modified this time around.
Quarter final and semi final matches which end in a draw will go straight to penalty kicks (same as last year) with the only final going to extra-time and if needed, penalty kicks. However, in the final, should a match go to extra-time, team’s will be allowed a fourth substitute.
A new rule being implemented is that abusive language will result in a penalty being awarded to the other team. Video replays have also been introduced to the tournament.
It appears that with MESSI not fully recovered, Nico GAITAN will be starting against Chile.
Lionel MESSI is set to fly today to join his teammates in San Francisco following his trial in Spain and will be arriving on Saturday morning. That’s good news but here’s another one which is less pleasant.
He might not start in the opening match against Chile. Partly because maybe there is some significant truth about his injury which was reported recently on La Nacion.
Should MESSI sit out for this one, Nicolas GAITAN will be brought in as his replacement. In fact, Nico has been deputizing MESSI over the last few training sessions.
As of now, the possible starting line-up chosen Tata MARTINO against Chile will be….
Sergio ROMERO; Marcos ROJO, Ramiro FUNES MORI, Nicolas OTAMENDI, Gabriel MERCADO; Ever BANEGA, Javier MASCHERANO, Augusto FERNANDEZ; Angel DI MARIA, Gonzalo HIGUAIN and Nicolas GAITAN.
Tata set-up an eleven in training.
The team trained on Tuesday and this was the line-up:
ROMERO; ROJO, FUNES MORI, OTAMENDI, MERCADO; BANEGA, MASCHERANO, FERNANDZ; DI MARIA, HIGUAIN and GAITAN
Lionel MESSI’s comments about his injury.
Lionel MESSI, currently in Spain for his tax trial, is still recovering from his injury. However, according to La Nacion, he was quoted as saying the following to someone in his entourage:
“I’m f*cked. It hurts a lot, if it’s like this, I won’t play against Chile. We’ll see how it progresses.”
