Messi’s Argentina coming!
The Argentina national football team are likely to play a FIFA friendly match against Paraguay at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on November 18, according to Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) officials as well as reports in both Paraguay and Argentina.
Following a post on the Paraguay national football team’s verified Twitter page, which gave a schedule with Paraguay taking on Venezuela on November 15 followed by a match between Paraguay and Argentina three days later -- both at the Bangabandhu National Stadium -- BFF officials yesterday admitted they were in an advanced stage in negotiations to host the match between Argentina and Paraguay, but there were no talks about the other match.
Abu Nayeem Shohag, general secretary of the BFF, claimed that they had been working on this match for a few days and have been in talks with the respective South American football bodies, even though the final call depends on the government’s green signal on security as well as getting funds to host the match.
“We have been working on this for quite some time. At the moment, there is a 50/50 chance of the match [between Argentina and Paraguay] taking place in Dhaka. There are issues such as funding and security assurances involved. If those issues are solved, hosting the match is very likely. We are discussing things with the government agencies,” Shohag told The Daily Star.
The local football governing body has been for quite some time planning to host high-profile international teams later this year as build-up to the celebration of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary next year, even though the schedules of some high-profile teams was hard to get.
The BFF spokesman also said that they would be able to come to a final decision regarding the match within the next 10 days after meetings with all the parties involved.
BFF senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedy, who is reportedly negotiating with different stakeholders including the agents who are supposed to bring the Albiceleste to Bangladesh, echoed the BFF general secretary’s claim.
“Twitter posts do not mean that the match will necessarily take place in Bangladesh. There are three issues here: security, money and a third one which I am not willing to share at the moment. If we can meet these three issues, the match will take place,” Murshedy said.
While there has been no official post from the Argentina Football Association in this regard, Argentine media are already running stories regarding the team’s Asian tour, reporting a match against Brazil in Saudi Arabia on November 15 followed by the one in Dhaka.
The interest in Bangladesh, though, will be roundly on Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, who is slated to be back in action for the Albiceleste this month following a three-month international ban, which was imposed on him for openly criticising ‘biased refereeing’ at this year’s Copa America in Brazil.
If Messi does come to Dhaka, it will be his second visit to the country with the Albiceleste. He led the team to a 3-1 victory in a FIFA friendly against Nigeria in 2011.
Even though the Barcelona star did not score that game, goals from Gonzalo Higuain, Angel di Maria and an own goal by Elderson Echiejile ensured the South Americans an easy victory, with Chinedu Obasi scoring the consolation goal for Nigeria.
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