Lionel Messi might be leading the Golden Boot race with his World-Cup leading five goals, but Argentina aren’t willing to play around with their star’s health.
On Friday, manager Lionel Scaloni confirmed that Messi will begin the squad’s Saturday contest against Jordan — Argentina’s final game in Group J play — on the bench.
“So Leo is going to start on the bench, and it’s not, and I’m not trying to skirt the question,” Scaloni said in acknowledging that it was a staff decision unrelated to any injury. “Now, as for the formation, I won’t tell you any more on that, and Leo will come in a little bit later.”
The ability to rest the superstar for the game in Arlington, Texas, comes about thanks to Argentina’s status as group winners. They assured themselves of advancement as Messi scored all five of their goals in back-to-back shutout victories over Algeria (3-0) and Austria (2-0).
Scaloni defended the decision to rest his starters, perhaps inadvertently indicating players other than Messi could be out of the lineup, when he spoke about his backups deserving the opportunity to play.
“Those that are playing tomorrow are playing because they deserve to be playing, they are part of the team, they are part of all the efforts that we’ve been doing in training,” he said.
–Field Level Media
