France touch down in Qatar for title defence, Argentina beat UAE in friendly
Doha, Qatar - World champions France touched down in Qatar on
Wednesday as Argentina and superstar Lionel Messi warmed up
for the World Cup with a goal in a friendly.
Messi, 35, has a sackful of trophies but the tournament in Qatar is likely to be his final
chance to equal the achievement of fellow Argentine great Diego Maradona, a winner in 1986.
Two-time champions Argentina extended their un-beaten run to 36 matches, Messi bagging his 91st international goal as the South Americans romped into a 5-0 victory against the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. But Paris Saint-germain forward Messi is cautious about the team’s chances in Qatar, even though they are among the favourites.
“We have a very nice group that is very eager, but we think about going little by little. We know that World Cup groups are not easy,” the seven-time Ballon d’or winner said in an interview with CON-MEBOL, the South
American football federation.
Argentina launch their campaign against Saudi Arabia on November 22, with Mexico and
Poland also in their group.
Champions arrive
France meanwhile arrived in Doha on Wednesday, seeking to
be-come the first team to retain
the World Cup since Brazil in 1962.
Ten members of the 2018 title-winning squad return, including captain Hugo Lloris,
Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.
But the defending champions, grouped with Australia, Denmark and Tunisia, are without firstchoice midfield pair Paul Pogba and N’golo Kante. Ballon d’or winner Karim Benzema, who has missed a series of games for Real Madrid this season be-cause of injury, is set for his first World Cup appearance since 2014.
Meanwhile, Spain coach Luis Enrique challenged his players to earn their place in the starting lineup at the World Cup in Thursday’s friendly against Jordan.
The 2010 World Cup winners play in Amman before travelling to Doha on Friday, with their first match of the tournament against Costa Rica on November 23.
Luis Enrique does not tend to have a fixed starting-line up and he told his squad that he would read a lot into the friendly.
“The conclusions I will take from the game tomorrow are important and the players know it,”
Luis Enrique said in Jordan.