Argentina’s national football team, led by Lionel Messi, will not be coming to Kerala next month, despite earlier claims made by the state’s Sports Minister V Abdurahiman. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has now confirmed their November schedule, which does not include any visit to India.
“The Argentine national team, led by Lionel Scaloni, will travel to Spain in November for training and then move to Luanda for their only friendly against Angola on Friday the 14th,” AFA said in an official statement on Saturday.
Adding to it AFA mentioned, “After the match, the delegation will return to the old continent (South America) to continue their training until November 18th, the day the FIFA World Cup concludes”.
Kerala match postponed, says sponsor
Anto Augustine, one of the sponsors of the proposed Kerala event, said in a Facebook post that the match has only been postponed, not cancelled.
“Due to the delay in getting approval from FIFA, a decision to postpone the match scheduled in the November window was taken during a meeting with an AFA official. The match in Kerala will be played in the next window. The announcement (will be made) soon,” he wrote.
Australia also rules out India trip
Adding to the confusion, Australia – which the Kerala government had named as Argentina’s opponent – has also confirmed a different schedule.
“Football Australia is pleased to confirm that the Socceroos will return to the USA during the November FIFA Men’s International Window, to take on Venezuela and Colombia,” the association said in a statement.
The Australian team will play Venezuela in Texas on November 14 and face Colombia in New York on November 18.
Earlier, the Kerala government and its broadcast partner had announced that Messi’s Argentina would play at Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on November 17. They had also promised fan meetings and an open-bus parade. However, with both Argentina and Australia confirming other commitments, the much-hyped Kerala event now stands postponed.
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