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Nigeria vs Argentina international friendly called off over Messi absence

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Nigeria vs Argentina international friendly called off over Messi absence

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

The highly anticipated friendly match between Nigeria’s senior men’s national team and world champions, Argentina has been cancelled.

The test-match between both nations was slated to take place in March in China but has now been called off due to an issue with the Argentine captain.

He was expected to appear in a club warm-up game in Hong Kong, China which he failed to show up as a result of a groin injury.

His absence has sparked lots of tension spreading across China.

“As a commercial event, a company and the Argentinean soccer team negotiated that the team would play a friendly match in March this year in the city of Hangzhou,” the Hangzhou authorities said in a statement.

“Given the current well-known reasons, according to the competent authorities, conditions to hold the friendly match are not mature, therefore (we) have decided to cancel it.”

Super Eagles’ last victory over the South American side came in a friendly match before the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Both sides met five times at the FIFA World Cup in 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014, and 2018 with Argentina winning all the games.

The two teams met for the first time in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, with Messi scoring three goals at the World Cups.

 

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Oluwaseun Oyediji
Oluwaseun Babatunde Oyediji is a multi-media sports journalist with over 10 years experience in Information Communication Technology (ICT), women's football, and beach soccer reportage.The prolific writer is the Media Assistant to Nigeria Beach Soccer League and Africa Beach Soccer Union as well as contributor on Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) website.He has covered multiple national and international football tournaments including Championship of African Nations (CHAN 2020), CAF Women's Champions League (2023), and Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2023).Since 2021, Oyediji has covered the NWFL Premiership especially the season ending Super Six Playoffs.A member of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Ogun state chapter is also the image maker of the Remo Sports Development Council under the leadership of Chief Falilat Ogunkoya and David Osuolale.
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