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Lionel Messi will not play for Argentina against Peru in their final game of the Copa America group stage.
The Argentina captain, 37, suffered with an apparent thigh injury during the win over Chile on Tuesday and subsequently missed training on Thursday.
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A spokesperson for the Argentina Football Federation (AFA) confirmed to The Athletic that Messi instead worked with a team physio at the team hotel and focused on kinesiology exercises.
He later wasn’t part of the open portion of training visible to media on Friday and won’t feature in Saturday’s game in Miami.
“Leo has a problem that he picked up in the last game,” Walter Samuel, the assistant coach who will lead the team against Peru, told reporters.
“He’s not going to be in the next game. We’re going to go day-to-day and see how he recovers.”
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If Argentina win Group A they’ll likely face either Ecuador or Mexico in Houston on July 4. Finish second and their quarterfinal, against likely Group B winners Venezuela, would be in Arlington on July 5.
Messi told reporters after the victory over Chile in New Jersey that he had felt “discomfort” in the upper part of his right leg early in the match.
“It was tight. It wasn’t as loose as it should’ve been,” said Messi. “But I was able to finish the game. We’ll see how it goes.”
Messi missed six games for Inter Miami during this Major League Soccer season due to muscle injuries with manager Tata Martino limiting the minutes of his star player where able to.
Argentina will finish top of Group A with a draw at Hard Rock Stadium while Peru need to win to stand any chance of progressing to the quarterfinals.
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(Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)