Lionel Messi announced his retirement from the Argentina national team, but also agreed to put on the shirt one more time for a big send-off.
The Albiceleste opens this window with a home friendly against Bolivia. The Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Cordoba plays host to the contest, but Messi won't travel to the interior of the country to take part in the match.
Instead, it's a chance for Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni, whose contract with the national team ends at the conclusion of this calendar year, to see what the future of the national team looks like.
When is Leo Messi's farewell match?
The next match this window for Argentina also will be an opportunity for Scaloni to give opportunities to rising stars like Nico Paz, Franco Mastantuono and Gianluca Prestianni when Burkina
Faso visits the Estadio Monumental on Oct. 3.
Then, Messi will take the spotlight at the same stadium, the home of River Plate, with his farewell match scheduled to take place Oct. 6 against Benin. Not only will Messi join up for that match, so too will longtime teammates and friends Rodrigo De Paul and Giovani Lo Celso. Other players who were part of Argentina's run to the 2022 World Cup title but are no longer in the Argentina setup also are expected to join for the festivities as Messi closes out his national team career with a 208th and final cap.
In that double-century of matches, Messi has not only scored 125 goals, but helped the team to that 2022 World Cup title, a pair of victories in South America's continental championship, the Copa América and another pair of World Cup finals in 2014 and 2026.
Over the weekend, Messi scored a free kick from a tremendous angle, though it came in a losing effort for Inter Miami against the Columbus Crew. Messi will continue to play club soccer in MLS but will no longer be called in to the Argentina national team, whose next major tournament is the 2028 Copa América.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Lionel Messi playing for Argentina today vs. Bolivia?
