Major League Soccer team Miami International and the Hong Kong Stars of China played an exhibition match at Hong Kong Stadium on the afternoon of February 4. However, star Messi did not play until the end of the game that day, causing dissatisfaction among nearly 40,000 fans at the scene, and related controversies have been fermenting in recent days.
According to Chinanews.com, at 18:00 Beijing time today (7th), the Major League Soccer team Miami International and the J-League team Kobe Victory played a friendly match in Japan. According to the list of Miami International matches published on the official website of Vissel Kobe, Messi appeared in the substitute lineup of Miami International.
Two days after Messi's absence, according to a report by Hong Kong Cable News on February 7, Miami International replied to the media, saying that it would do its best to arrange Messi and Suarez to play, but his physical condition did not allow it, and said that the player's injury was part of football, and thanked the organizers for their efforts to hold wonderful events, and hoped to visit Hong Kong again in the future.
At the same time, Miami International owner and former England national team captain David Beckham released a promotional video on social media on the evening of the 6th, and a large number of fans swiped the screen in the comment area of the film to express their dissatisfaction and demand a refund and apology.
"A last-minute decision not to let the two play"
Hong Kong Cable News reported that Miami International wrote in the response that Miami International Club is honored to be able to visit Hong Kong, and the club understands that all walks of life are disappointed by the absence of Messi and Suarez, and the club also regrets this, but the health of the players always comes first.
According to the report, Miami International also said that it can guarantee that the players also want to participate in the game, so they also included the two in the list. As for Messi's lack of warm-up, it was because he was assessed in the dressing room that he was too risky to play, and said that he had tried to fulfill all feasible promises, and waited until the last minute to decide not to let the two play. The team said it was grateful to the organizers for organising the event, but that the player was injured during the game and that "it's not anyone's fault".
Miami International also said, "If fans are willing to accept Miami International Club again, Miami International will be eager to return to beautiful Hong Kong in the future." ”
On the 6th local time, Major League Soccer Miami International Team held a press conference in Japan, and Messi attended. According to the Reuters live video, Messi talked about his absence from the previous trip to Hong Kong at the press conference, he expressed regret, and said that he would like to play in the trip to Hong Kong and hope to have the opportunity to play in Hong Kong in the future.
On the evening of the 4th, the Hong Kong SAR government issued two statements expressing "extreme disappointment", and the Hong Kong Legislative Council member of the sports, performing arts, culture and publishing sectors Fok Qigang also asked the organizers and the Miami International team to apologize and explain to the Hong Kong public. On the 6th, Huo Qigang responded again on social media platforms, saying that the careful arrangements we prepared for the arrival of the team were trampled on, which is regrettable.
According to the arrangement, at 18 o'clock in the evening of the 7th Beijing time, Miami International will usher in the last game of their Asian trip in Tokyo, the opponent is the Kobe victory ship of the Japanese professional league, judging from Messi's participation in the warm-up a day ago, his body is not too uncomfortable, I don't know if the Argentine will appear in this game.
According to Hong Kong media reports, the "football king" Messi talked to reporters on the 6th about not being able to play in the Hong Kong exhibition match, and expressed his hope that he would have the opportunity to play in Hong Kong in the future.
According to foreign media reports, Messi said at the press conference: "I'm very happy to come to Japan, I've been to Japan several times before, and I'm very happy to play in Japan for the last stop of the Asian tour." Talking about whether he will be able to play on the 7th, he said that he does not know yet. 'Tomorrow, I don't know, we need to see how training is going today,' he added, 'but I don't know if I'll be able to play yet, but I'm feeling much better than the other day and I really want to play.' ”
Fans poured into the comments section of Beckham's account
According to a report by Hong Kong Sing Tao Network, two days after Messi's absence, Miami International owner and former England national team captain David Beckham released a promotional video on social media on the evening of the 6th.
According to the report, Beckham uploaded a promotional video filmed in cooperation with an overseas food delivery platform on his social account, and he himself appeared in the film. However, before the video could be promoted, Beckham himself was besieged by fans who were unhappy with Messi's failure to play in Hong Kong.
Among them, some fans left direct messages asking for refunds, some asked Beckham to "please respect Hong Kong, China" and asked the other party to apologize, and some repeated messages in Spanish, blasting the team for "disrespecting the fans and ruining Messi", and some fans left messages saying that they have been Beckham's fans since childhood, but this incident made him very disappointed, believing that the club's actions were "lies and deception".
Editor|Lu Xiangyong, Du Hengfeng
Proofreading|Duan Lian
The daily economic news is synthesized from the global network, Chinanews.com, and Beijing Youth Daily
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