No mercy for misfiring Lionel Messi: Nigeria coach

TIL Desk Sports/ Nigeria have no sympathy for the struggles of Argentina striker Lionel Messi at the World Cup and will do everything they can to bring his tournament to a premature end when the teams meet in St Petersburg on Tuesday.

Argentina, bottom of Group D, need victory to progress to the knockout stages and must also hope Iceland do not beat Croatia, because that could send them out anyway, depending on goal difference. Nigeria, second in the group, will advance if they beat Argentina, while a draw may also prove to be enough even if third-placed Iceland beat Croatia.

The match may be Messi’s last at a World Cup if his team do not escape their group. The 31-year-old has so far struggled to make an impact, missing a penalty in the 1-1 draw with Iceland and being marked out of the game in the emphatic 3-0 defeat by Croatia.”We love this great player Messi, everybody loves him. But the question for us is not if it’s the last World Cup for him,” Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr told reporters on Monday.