There was much confusion over Argentina’s visit to Kerala next month with fresh reports suggesting that Lionel Messi and his world champion teammates might not be heading to India after all.
The Argentine media reported that the match against Australia may shift to an African country.
But the main sponsor in Kerala, Reporter Broadcasting Company (RBC) Pvt Ltd, announced on Monday that the match will be played at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi on November 17.
“RBC has been toiling hard to bring Messi and his team to Kerala for the last several months. They will be playing in Kochi on November 17. I’m confident that Messi’s arrival in Kerala would be a feather in the cap of Indian sports”, said Anto Augustine, managing director of RBC.
Anto dismissed rumours that Messi might not play or that the match could be played in another country.
“I have seen the report that the Argentina match would be played in Africa, and not in India,” he said. “Of course, Messi would be playing. It is the World Cup-winning squad of Argentina that is coming to India.”
This update comes barely a week after the Argentina Football Association had officially confirmed friendlies in both Luanda, Angola, and Kochi.
When ‘All About Argentina’, an ‘X’ handle, expressed its apprehension late on Sunday that the national team’s game scheduled for November is “expected to be cancelled”, alarm bells started ringing in India.
One post in ‘X’ read, “As the first game is in Angola, they want to be closer to Africa, so the opponent for the second game could be Morocco and the game will be played in Africa”.
The post has also tagged Gaston Edul, famous Argentine sports journalist, which has fed the rumours about the change of venue.
Argentine sports outlet TYC Sports also suggested that Lionel Scaloni’s squad may revise its plans for the international break in November.
Kerala sports minister V. Abdurahiman confirmed to The Telegraph that Argentina will arrive in Kerala as planned.
“I don’t know why the Argentine media has cast doubts over Messi and his teams’ arrival in Kerala.
“As of now the match against Australia is happening in Kochi on 13th November. Hectic arrangements are on. The security arrangements have been examined by the Argentine Football Association,” said Abdurahiman.