Farce surrounding Argentina friendly
Argentina was scheduled to play against Burkina Faso's senior national team on Saturday. In the end, for curious reasons, they only played against the U23 – and won convincingly.
Saturday's friendly match between Argentina and Burkina Faso caused a stir even before kick-off.
The African team refused to travel due to a flight delay and instead sent their U23 squad to the three-time world champions in Buenos Aires.
Team Refused to Continue Journey
What happened? During their journey, the Burkina Faso national team was stranded in Casablanca (Morocco) due to a delayed flight. The delay meant the African team would have only landed in Buenos Aires three and a half hours before kick-off.
Almost all players subsequently agreed not to continue their journey. To avoid a potential sanction from world governing body FIFA in the event of a match cancellation, the federation reacted by sending its U23 squad instead.
"Historic Farce"
Unsurprisingly, the spontaneously deployed Burkina Faso U23 suffered a clear defeat in the friendly. In the Argentinian capital, the Burkinabe were thrashed 7-0.
The Argentinian newspaper "AS" wrote of a "historic farce" and an "absolute disgrace."
Messi's Last Dance
Argentina superstar Lionel Messi, who was not part of the squad, did not have to witness this.
The 39-year-old will make his final appearance for head coach Lionel Scaloni's team in the match against Benin on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.
