Argentina coach talks about Messi: We no longer rely on him!

Argentina national team coach Scaloni said that the team has learned to deal with Messi's absence, and when the Miami international striker is unable to play, the team no longer needs to adjust the lineup. The statement was made before Wednesday's World Cup qualifiers against Colombia.

Since completing its adult national team debut in 2005, Messi has made 192 appearances for Argentina, scoring 112 goals, and won the 2022 World Cup, two Cups of America championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympics men's football gold medal. The 37-year-old captain missed Argentina's 1-0 victory over Uruguay in March and a 4-1 victory over his arch-rival Brazil due to injury. During that international match day, Scaloni's team successfully secured a place in the 2026 World Cup.

Messi returned to the national team this month to compete in the World Cup qualifiers and came on as a substitute in Argentina's 1-0 victory over Chile last week (October 17). "The team is currently in a stage where we can play the same way whether we have Messi or not. This was more complicated in the past because we had to adjust the positions of some players, but now we don't have that need to, the team is working well, which is a good thing." Scaloni told reporters before the match in Buenos Aires.

Although Argentina has qualified for the North American World Cup, Colombia is currently ranked sixth (the last place to advance directly), and they hope to open the gap with seventh-ranked Venezuela through a victory. In the last match between the two sides in the World Cup qualifiers in September last year, Colombia defeated Argentina 2-1.

"This is a great team with great players, distinctive styles, and can cause trouble for you. We have analyzed them and showed the players the strengths of the opponent and where we want to use them. It will be a great game, especially because we play at home, so it is a good thing for the elders of our hometown to see the players' performances," said the Argentine coach.