For the past month and a half, Messi has literally driven soccer fans in America crazy. The little magician broke several records and turned the soccer game into a social gathering. But America needs to wait a bit, his idols have been waiting in his homeland. The winner of the last World Cup returned to the Argentine team to play the first qualifying match for the 2026 World Cup with Ecuador.
Lionel Messi was a bit slow with goals for American MLS club Inter Miami, limiting himself to assists. But we all know that Leo can’t keep fans of his talent on a starvation diet for long. It was very timely that there was a break in the calendar to play with the national team, and after the triumphant World Cup in Qatar, visiting your local team is a real pleasure.
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The Argentine star clearly missed the atmosphere of the capital’s stadium, and it had also been a long time since he had seen his teammates. Therefore, another miracle in the form of goals was a matter of time. The whole game was played with a clear advantage for the home team, but Ecuadorian footballers are no longer the scapegoats and this team has enough qualified players representing the main European clubs.
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Messi, along with Di María, Martínez and González, made regular raids on goalkeeper Hernán Galíndez’s possessions, but visiting defenders Arbold and Hurtado skillfully neutralized the advances of the world champions. He took a lot of work. To maintain an acceptable result we had to sacrifice even our own attacking play. However, the scythe landed on a rock towards the end of the match.
The Ecuadorian defense no longer thought about counterplay, enduring the constant pressure of the Argentines. In the 77th minute they violated the rules near their penalty area. Exactly at the point where Leo rarely fails. Luck is like a penalty. Massey does not condone this. Without advancing, in his favorite way, the best soccer player on the planet gracefully turned the ball towards the left corner of the Ecuadorian goal, knocking down, as they say in these cases, a spider web. The visiting goalkeeper didn’t even move.
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Getting the victory for the experienced hosts was a matter of technique. The coaching staff of the stunned Ecuadorians immediately sent a couple of attackers onto the field to even the difference, but this rarely recovers. In the 89th minute, the hero of the match was replaced by Exekiel Palacios to a standing ovation from the stands, and this turned out to be the first substitution of an “alien” in national team matches since 2014. Messi then scored two goals against Nigeria (3-2) in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup, one of which was the winner.
After the game, Lionel was exuding joy.
“We know that difficult games await us in qualifying. Ecuador has very good players, they know what they are doing and they are very well physically. It was a very tough game. I’m a little tired, but I feel good. We recently became world champions, but we must continue fighting and preparing for the next World Cup. “Everyone wants to beat Argentina, and now that we are champions, even more so,” Messi is quoted in the press service of the Argentine team.
