A pair of soccer exhibitions featuring Argentina’s men’s national team in China have been canceled amid growing fallout after Lionel Messi did not play in an Inter Miami friendly last weekend in Hong Kong.
Sporting authorities in the Chinese city of Hangzhou on Friday canceled an exhibition between Argentina and Nigeria scheduled to be played there next month. Beijing’s football association on Saturday followed suit, canceling a March friendly between Argentina and Ivory Coast that was to be played in the Chinese capital.
“Beijing does not plan, for the moment, to organise the match in which Lionel Messi was to participate,” the Beijing Football Association said in a statement to local media.