Messi's family has informed Goal that the Argentinian star will not play in the next round of World Cup qualifiers for La Albiceleste after he retired from international duty following the 2016 Copa America Centenario. Reportedly, a contingent from the Argentina Football Association is on its way to Spain to convince Messi to reconsider.
One retired Argentine international, Juan Roman Riquelme, has an idea how they can lure La Pulga back into international duty: let him pick the next coach. The Argentina National Team is currently without a manager after Gerardo Martino left following Argentina's loss in the Copa America final against Chile.
From FOX Soccer:
"In my humble opinion, they should ask Messi who he wants as coach of Argentina," Riquelme told Los Intrusos. "The coach should put the team together with Messi, make sure he his happy because he is the only one who can lead us to victory."
Riquelme wasn't done.
"The coach should even be asking him who he [Messi] wants on the team," said Riquelme. "The issue here is that he must feel at home. The more comfortable he feels, the bigger lead he will give us and that will be better for the team. This is the national team of Argentina we are talking about here, not a club that plays on Sundays. Here they will just have three days to prepare. He must feel comfortable because we don't have a lot of time to prepare.
"This is not like a club where the coach has a lot of time and power to watch the players and evaluate and convince them,"
Unfortunately for the AFA, this might not even be enough. "He does not impose trainers nor does he get them sacked," a family member told goal.com.
Next step: make Messi President of Argentina.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
