March 26, (THEWILL) – Argentina gave their fans something to be thrilled about in their 3-0 triumph against bottom team Venezuela in its final 2022 World Cup qualifying home tie.
As has been the case for the recent decades, the Argentine team was led by a man-of-the-match performance from captain Lionel Messi, who may have also played what is possibly the final home qualifier of his international career.
Fittingly, Messi scored the game-winning goal for the Albiceleste, who had already qualified for the World Cup a few months prior, but made sure they retained their unbeaten run through the qualifying series.
Nico Gonzalez scored the game’s first goal, and super-sub Angel Di Maria added the cherry on top with a lovely chip that sent the La Bombonera faithful into a frenzy.
After the game, when asked if he will continue to play World Cup qualifiers in the next cycle ahead of the FIFA event in 2026, Messi, 34, paused before replying: “I don’t know. The truth is that I don’t know.
“I’m thinking about what’s coming next, which is Ecuador, and the preparation games we have, after which are in July, and I think September, October, and then the World Cup. Then I don’t know.
“After the World Cup I will have to rethink many things, whether we do well or not, hopefully in the best way. But surely after the World Cup many things change.”
Whether it was his final home qualifying match or not, Messi was fully involved and inspired from the first minute. He was a central attacking ‘false nine’ who took control and probed the Venezuelan defence.
Argentina has two qualifying matches left in Ecuador on Tuesday and a makeup match against Brazil, for which a date is yet to be fixed.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
