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Nigeria Vs Argentina Friendly Match Cancelled Over Lionel Messi Backlash
In an unfortunate turn of events, the planned friendly match between Nigeria and Argentina that was scheduled for next month has been cancelled.
This decision comes amidst the controversy surrounding Lionel Messi’s absence from Inter Miami’s friendly in Hong Kong last week.
SportXparte understands that Messi’s reported injury sparked outrage among fans who felt misled, leading to partial refunds and tarnishing the event’s image.
The Inter Miami’s star player was seen as the major attraction for the match. However, as a result of the issues that followed his absence, Chinese sporting authorities deemed the conditions for the Argentina-Nigeria friendly in Hangzhou “not mature” and opted to cancel it.
In a statement issued hours ago, Hangzhou authorities said: “As a commercial event, a company and the Argentinian soccer team negotiated that the team would play a friendly match in March this year in the city of Hangzhou.
“In view of 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.”
It’s unclear if Argentina’s other scheduled friendly against the Ivory Coast will also be affected.
It is worth noting that Nigeria and Argentina have been involved in several friendlies and have met at the 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups.
