Messi trains with his teammates

“Houston, we have a problem.”“said astronaut Jack Swigert during the eventful Apollo 13 journey to the moon in 1970. Let’s use that mythical quote to capture what he seemed to have. Argentina ahead of their meeting with each other on Thursday in this Texas city. against Ecuador in the quarter-finals of the Cup.

The country was tense, but it seemed to be breathing. The national team trained Tuesday at Houston’s Shell Energy Dynamo Stadium, with the physical condition of its captain, leader, star… and the player everyone believes will lead Argentina to the semifinals of this Cup against Ecuador’s Spaniard Felix Sanchez Bas, unknown. And the captain trained with the rest of his teammates, seemingly normally. He did exercises with the ball and seemed to have recovered.

But there is no need to claim victory. It is difficult to determine the exact condition of the contracture that Lionel suffers from in his adductor muscle.On the right, it happened in the second round against Chile and because of that he couldn’t take part in the third round against Peru.

Albiceleste’s physiotherapists and doctors work around the clock to try to reduce inflammation in the affected area as much as possible. It is believed that Lionel’s competitive spirit could play a decisive role in ensuring he is included in Scaloni’s starting line-up against the Ecuadorians. but from a medical point of view, no one can put their hands in the fire. Of course, the fact that he trained normally on Tuesday gives hope to the country and the team.

Apart from this Tuesday, the Argentine coach has one more training session ahead to check on his captain. And if he is unavailable, then the most normal thing is that Angel Di Maria will take Lionel’s place. But it looks like Leo will be