On September 6, the Argentine national team held a ceremony to honor veteran striker Di Maria as he retired from international football at the packed Monumental Stadium. Messi did not attend, but sent a touching message.
“I hope you enjoy this evening with your family and loved ones. We have said everything we needed to say. We have shared so much, and who would have thought it would end this way? We will miss you so much. See you soon,” Messi ‘s message to Di Maria was shown on the big screen in the stadium.
Watching on the field with his family, Di Maria burst into tears at the touching words of gratitude from his long-time teammate who had gone through many bitter failures together, before experiencing all the glory over the past 3 years, including 2 Copa America championships (2021 and 2024), 1 World Cup and 1 Finalissima championship title in 2022.
“Now I will just be a fan like everyone else, cheering for the team from the stands. I will come to support you at all the Copa Americas and World Cups. I am sure the Argentina team will continue like this and go further, because this team has a lot of character,” Di Maria said while talking to his teammates who were honoring him and the fans on the field.
After an emotional farewell ceremony for Di Maria, Argentina began the match without either Di Maria or Messi for the first time in over a decade. They were replaced by Giovani Lo Celso, who wore the number 11 shirt (formerly worn by Di Maria), and Paulo Dybala, who temporarily took Messi’s number 10.
However, these two players were only on the bench in the match between Argentina and Chile in the 7th round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America.
Instead, coach Scaloni used 5 midfielders including Molina, De Paul, Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Gonzalez. In the front line, Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez started. Meanwhile, the defense was guarded by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and 3 central defenders Otamendi, Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez.
However, the Argentine team was deadlocked throughout the first half against the solid defense of the Chilean team. It was not until the second half that Mac Allister opened the score 1-0 in the 48th minute. After that, coach Scaloni made substitutions such as bringing in Dybala, Lo Celso or Marcos Acuna, which completely changed the game.
Argentina then had a dominant second half, scoring two more goals by Julian Alvarez in the 84th minute and Dybala in the 90+1 minute to win 3-0 against Chile. Thereby, they continued to lead the 2026 World Cup qualifying round in South America with 18 points after 7 matches. Chile is still second to last in the rankings with only 5 points, making the chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup increasingly distant.
In the next match, the Argentine team will travel to the away field to meet the Colombia team, the opponent they won 1-0 (Lautaro Martinez scored) in the recent Copa America final, at 3:30 a.m. on September 11.
Meanwhile, famous player Messi is determined to return to the Argentina team in the October schedule with the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America, against Venezuela and Bolivia.
