Lionel Messi is recovering well from arecent muscle injury and could feature in Argentina's final World Cup warm-up matches.
The 38-year-old Messi suffered a muscle strain while playing for Inter Miami in a 6-4 Major League Soccer win over Philadelphia Union 10 days ago, raising concerns over his fitness ahead of the World Cup.
Reigning world champions Argentina will face Honduras in Texas on Saturday, before playing Iceland in Alabama onTuesday in their final friendlies ahead of the World Cup, and coach Lionel Scaloni is hopeful Messi might play a small role.
"Leo is doing well, he's already trained with the group for part of the session, and that's significant. He's no longer training separately," Scaloni said at a press conference in the United States.
"He is improving a lot and could even take part in one of the (warm-up) matches for a few minutes. We'll see whether it's this one or the next, but he's much better and that gives us peace of mind."
With Messi set to play in his sixth World Cup, Scaloni also recounted the exchange in which he told the Argentina captain he had been selected for the squad.
"I sent him a message and he told me he would wait for the squad list to see if he had been called up," Scaloni said with a smile. "I told him, 'You're called up.' That's how it happened."
Messi led Argentina to the World Cup title in Qatar in 2022. They open their title defence against Algeria on 16 June before facing Austria and Jordan in Group J.
Reuters
