Lionel Messi has returned to training and could feature in one of Argentina’s World Cup warm-up games in a huge boost for the defending champions.
Messi was withdrawn by Inter Miami boss Guillermo Hoyos during their MLS game with Philadelphia Union on May 24 with what was described as “muscle fatigue”.
The 38-year-old’s fitness has become one of the main talking points ahead of the tournament that gets underway on Thursday but Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni offered a positive update on Messi ahead of tonight’s friendly with Honduras in Texas.
“Leo’s doing well, he is no different to anyone else,” Scaloni said. “He has already trained with the group for part of the session.
“He is no longer training alone. He is doing much better, and that gives us peace of mind.
“It may be he is part of the squad [for the warm-up games]. We’ll see if it is tonight or the next one against Iceland and let him play a few minutes.”
Messi trains fully amid Scaloni praise
Argentinian newspaper Ole report Messi did a full workout on Friday, joining in with the warm-ups, the rondos and, most importantly, the sprint work.
Messi repeatedly said over the past few months that he did not know if he would participate in the World Cup, and never confirmed he would make himself available.
Instead, he waited to see if he had been called up, not that it was ever in question.
Scaloni added: “I sent him a message, and he said he had been waiting to hear if he’d been named. Okay, well he’s called up.
“Everyone was waiting to see if there would be an announcement, me too. In the end, he did what every player does – waited to be called up.
“It gave me a tremendous sense of calm when he told me he wasn’t going to make an announcement, he’d just wait to be called up. That’s what happened.
“I only had contact with him when I saw it was the right moment, a little bit before the announcement and the list of players was almost confirmed, to check [his availability] and that was his response.”
Argentina’s injury situation is improving – Scaloni
Scaloni has other injury worries to contend with ahead of Argentina’s first game, against Algeria on June 16.
Julian Alvarez has an ankle problem and Leandro Paredes a muscle sprain that forced them to train indoors at Argentina’s training base in Kansas City.
“The situation is improving,” Scaloni said. “They’re fine, and we don’t want to risk them in these games, and the idea is they won’t take part in these friendlies.
“In this one [against Honduras], definitely not. In the second, there might be a chance that one of them could play.
“For now, everything is going quite well, and next week we’ll see.”
