On March 26, Beijing time, in the 17th round of the World Preliminary Round south American zone, Argentina played at home against Venezuela, and finally won 3-0 with goals from Gonzalez, Di Maria and Messi. Messi played 90 minutes in this game, shooting 7 times on goal, 3 shots on target, scoring 1 goal. He has been successful 9 times and 6 times. The ball was touched 124 times, 92 passes and 80 times in place, with an accuracy rate of 87%.
It is worth mentioning that this goal of this match, Messi's total goals in the World Preliminary Round reached 28, and Suarez tied for the top spot in the history of the South American World Preliminary Tournament. Behind Messi Suarez is Bolivia's Martins, who scored 22 goals, while Chile's Sanchez scored 19 and Argentina's Crespo scored 19. In addition, it was Messi's 700th goal in the number 10 shirt, Barca 10: 630 goals in 669 games, and Argentina 10: 70 goals in 122 games.
Messi said after the game: "I've been feeling happy here for a long time, it's an amazing team. Everyone loves me very much and everything is natural on and off the field. I think it was Argentina saying goodbye to the fans before the World Cup. ”
For the future, Messi said: "We still have a match against Ecuador, which is the last game of the qualifiers, followed by the World Cup. We think about the games in July, September, October, and then we think about the World Cup. What will happen after the World Cup, I don't know. I'll reconsider a lot of things after the World Cup, whether I'm in a good or bad situation. Will consider a lot. ”
Messi's words sparked speculation in the media. Spain's Marca newspaper also headlined "Messi hinted at quitting after the World Cup," which it said was hard to accept, but Messi's career with the Argentine national team began to come to an end.
By June, Messi will celebrate his 35th birthday, and the Qatar World Cup is likely to be his last. After winning the Copa America, if you win the World Cup, Messi's career will be perfect. But Messi also knows that France, Brazil, Spain, Germany, England and other teams are strong opponents for Argentina. Messi reconsidered things after the World Cup, either by withdrawing from the national team or saying goodbye to the mainstream league and playing in major leagues. All in all, Messi has run out of time to play in high-level competitions.