May 28--Argentina's Lionel Messi, the five-time world player of the year, is uncertain for next month's Copa America Centenario after sustaining bruises to his lower back and rib cage in the second half of Friday's tournament tuneup against Honduras.
Team officials said Messi was in "intense pain" after being kneed in the back by Honduran Oliver Morazan.
He was taken to the hospital for tests, which found no fractures, and the pain had lessened by Saturday. But Messi did not participate in training and did not accompany the team to California to prepare for its Copa America opener June 6 in Santa Clara.
"We've got to take it day by day," team doctor Daniel Martinez told the Buenos Aires sports daily Ole. "It's an area where it hurts to move normally, [like] get up, turn and cough."
Complicating things for Messi is the fact the 28-year-old faces a pair of long plane flights in the next week --, first a 13-hour trip from Argentina to Spain, where he faces a Thursday court date in a tax-evasion case, then a 15-hour journey from Barcelona to San Francisco, where he's scheduled to rejoin the Argentine team next weekend.
