{"id":13902,"date":"2024-02-23T12:41:58","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T12:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/?p=13902"},"modified":"2024-02-23T12:42:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T12:42:25","slug":"lionel-messi-to-join-argentinas-us-tour-after-hong-kong-absence-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/lionel-messi-to-join-argentinas-us-tour-after-hong-kong-absence-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi to Join Argentina\u2019s US Tour After Hong Kong Absence Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lionel-messi-sitting-on-the-bench-during-match-against-hong-kong-select-xi.jpg\" title=\"Messi to Join Argentina\u2019s US Tour After Hong Kong Absence Controversy \" alt=\"Lionel Messi sitting on the bench during match against Hong Kong select XI\" width=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13903\" \/><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Messi has been at the center of a controversy in China<\/li>\n<li>Messi\u2019s no-show made China cancel the upcoming matches scheduled in Hangzhou and Beijing.<\/li>\n<li>AFA has confirmed Messi will represent two upcoming friendlies as a result<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>During a solid <em>4-1<\/em> win scored by his current team, Inter Miami, in a pre-season match against a Hong Kong select XI, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/lionel-messi-confirms-goat-status-winning-the-greatest-world-cup-final\/\">eight-time Ballon D\u2019Or winner <strong>Lionel Messi<\/strong><\/a> was, to his fans\u2019 disappointment, a no-show.<\/p>\n<h2>Two Friendlies Announced<\/h2>\n<p>The superstar, who is idolized by Chinese fans of the sport, sparked a lot of controversy and led to China canceling the matches scheduled with Nigeria in Hangzhou and Ivory Coast in Beijing as a result of his absence on February 4 which was interpreted as a political rebuke.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/g9SXo6QLJwo?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0?ecver=2\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After his schedule was abruptly cleared, the <strong>Argentina Football Association<\/strong> (AFA) announced the iconic player\u2019s national team will engage in two upcoming friendlies with El Salvador in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field on March 22 and Nigeria at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on March 26. <\/p>\n<p>This means the <strong>player will miss <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intermiamicf.com\">Inter Miami<\/a>\u2019s road game against the New York Red Bulls<\/strong> scheduled for March 23 at Red Bull Arena. However, he could have been playing more in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/us\/states\/new-york\">New York<\/a> area later in the year.<\/p>\n<h2>The Crowd Chanted \u201cRefund!\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Close to 40,000 soccer fans were eager to see the icon work his magic on the field after paying close to 1,000 Hong Kong dollars ($125). <\/p>\n<p>The crowd was heard chanting &#8220;<em>Refund!<\/em>&#8220;, booing the player and even giving him the universal thumbs-down sign. The same reactions were directed to the club president and co-owner, David Beckham, right after the final whistle.<\/p>\n<p>Messi explained that he was forced not to play because of an injury that he had suffered. The US is preparing to host the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/sports-betting\/soccer\">Copa America<\/a> in June and July. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary: Messi has been at the center of a controversy in China Messi\u2019s no-show made China cancel the upcoming matches scheduled in Hangzhou and Beijing. AFA has confirmed Messi will represent two upcoming friendlies as a result During a solid 4-1 win scored by his current team, Inter Miami, in a pre-season match against a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","category-usa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Messi to Join Argentina\u2019s US Tour After Hong Kong Absence Controversy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After the fallout that was triggered by Lionel Messi\u2019s absence during a recent match played by his team, Inter Miami, against a Hong Kong team, the AFA has announced the player will make two appearances in the US in March.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/lionel-messi-to-join-argentinas-us-tour-after-hong-kong-absence-controversy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Messi to Join Argentina\u2019s US Tour After Hong Kong Absence Controversy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After the fallout that was triggered by Lionel Messi\u2019s absence during a recent match played by his team, Inter Miami, against a Hong Kong team, the AFA has announced the player will make two appearances in the US in March.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/lionel-messi-to-join-argentinas-us-tour-after-hong-kong-absence-controversy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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