Lionel Messi gave Argentina great news, but another of their stars is in trouble

On Thursday, October 12, the Argentine National Team will play its third match in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup to be organized by the United States, Canada and Mexico. It will be in Buenos Aires against Paraguay, at River Plate's Monumental stadium. And five days later they will travel to Lima to face Peru.

One of the main concerns of coach Lionel Scaloni was whether Lionel Messi would be able to be there. The forward suffered a muscle injury in the first game of the qualifiers, against Ecuador on September 7, and since then he has not been able to recover 100%. In fact, with Inter Miami he was only able to play a few minutes in the match against Toronto FC and had to be replaced.

This Wednesday Leo will not travel to Illinois to face Chicago Fire. It will be the fourth consecutive game for The Herons that he has missed (the previous ones were Orlando City, Houston Dynamo and New York FC), but it is expected that on Saturday he will be able to play at least a few minutes against Cincinnati.

Regardless of what happens there, Messi will travel to South America to join the training sessions of the Argentine National Team. This was confirmed by journalist Gastón Edul in his X account, assuring that on Sunday October 8 or Monday October 9 the player will be in Buenos Aires together with his teammates. On more than one occasion Leo said that at this moment of his career what he enjoys most is to be with the National Team, so he does not want to miss any game.

Not all is good news

While Argentina are celebrating that Lionel Messi will be in the upcoming matches, another of their biggest stars may be absent. Angel Di Maria had to be replaced in the last minutes of the match between Inter and Benfica in the Champions League due to a physical problem. This week he will undergo medical tests and, if it is confirmed that he suffered an injury, he will not be able to play for the Argentine National Team in October.