Argentina and Paris Saint‑Germain forward Lionel Messi posed on stage after receiving the Best FIFA Men’s Player award at the Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 ceremony in Paris (AFP). Messi and his Argentina teammates will make a triumphant return to their homeland on Thursday for their first match since winning the World Cup in Qatar. The game against Central American minnows Panama will be played at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, where more than 1.5 million fans applied for the 63 000 tickets on offer.
Football‑mad Argentines flooded the streets after the Albiceleste’s dramatic penalty‑shootout victory over France in December. An estimated five million people lined the streets of Buenos Aires a few days later for the trophy parade, which had to be abandoned before reaching central Buenos Aires because it was already hours behind schedule.
Messi had been widely expected to retire from international football after the final in Doha, where he scored two goals and a shoot‑out spot‑kick. However, the Paris Saint‑Germain forward said he wants to continue a bit longer so he can wear the blue‑and‑white Argentina jersey as a world champion. “He is in good shape, he wants to keep coming. When he tells me that he doesn’t feel good, we’ll see,” coach Lionel Scaloni said on Tuesday. “At the moment he is happy with the national team.”
The mood was slightly soured earlier this month when two men fired shots at a closed supermarket belonging to Messi’s wife’s family and left a menacing handwritten note: “Messi, we’re waiting for you. Javkin is a narco, he won’t take care of you,” referring to Pablo Javkin, the mayor of Messi’s hometown Rosario, about 320 km north of Buenos Aires. Messi, however, has taken it in stride, as his father noted. “I spoke to the kid and he told me: ‘relax’,” Jorge Messi told reporters. For Mayor Javkin, the incident was more a publicity stunt than a genuine threat. “What story goes more quickly viral in the world than an attack on Messi?” he said. The episode highlighted a growing problem in Rosario, a port city on the Paraná River that has become a nerve centre for drug trafficking and the most violent city in Argentina, with 287 murders in 2022.
A party atmosphere is expected in Buenos Aires for the team’s competitive homecoming. Of the 83 000‑capacity stadium, 20 000 places are reserved for invitees; the remaining tickets sold out within two hours. Prices ranged from 12 000 pesos ($60) to 49 000 pesos ($245), more than half the average monthly salary in the country. Argentine Football Federation president Claudio Tapia said the federation received over 130 000 requests for media accreditation, yet the stadium can accommodate only 344 journalists. “We would love to accommodate everyone, but we would need two…stadiums, just for journalists. The madness for Argentina is total,” Tapia said.
Those who cannot get into the stadium will be able to watch the match for free on television, as the government decided to broadcast it openly. Scaloni promised that the team will not rest on its laurels, regardless of the occasion or the opponent. “The aim is to keep playing at the same level,” he said. “Now it will be harder than ever because everyone will want to beat us.” After Thursday’s match, Argentina will face Curaçao in Match 28 in Santiago del Estero (AFP).
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