Captain Lionel Messi returns to the starting lineup for Argentina in their World Cup last-32 clash against tournament debutants Cape Verde on Friday.<\/p>\n
It is a landmark game for Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, who is marking his 100th game in charge of the national team since taking over in 2018.<\/p>\n
Messi, the World Cup’s top scorer of all time, becomes the first player ever to make 30 appearances at the tournament.<\/p>\n
Lautaro Martinez joins Messi in attack while Julian Alvarez is benched.<\/p>\n
Cape Verde midfielder Telmo Arcanjo, who was doubtful for the game because of a leg injury, starts on the bench.<\/p>\n
His teammate Sidny Lopes Cabral is available again and the left back starts after serving a one-match suspension against Saudi Arabia for picking up yellow cards against Spain and Uruguay.<\/p>\n
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez, Lisandro Martinez, Cristian Romero, Facundo Medina, Nahuel Molina, Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez, Lionel Messi (captain), Thiago Almada, Lautaro Martinez.<\/p>\n
Cape Verde: Vozinha, Diney Borges, Pico Lopes, Sidny Lopes Cabral, Steven Moreira, Kevin Pina, Jovane Cabral, Deroy Duarte, Laros Duarte, Ryan Mendes (captain), Nuno da Costa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Captain Lionel Messi returns to the starting lineup for Argentina in their World Cup last-32 clash against tournament…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[239716,239722,239719,239723,239712,239714,239720,239721,85,46,239718,239711,239717,239713,239715,105],"class_list":["post-524065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-argentina-cape-verde-lineup-world-cup","tag-argentina-football-match-news","tag-argentina-team-news-world-cup-match","tag-argentina-vs-cape-verde-latest-news","tag-argentina-vs-cape-verde-result-1-0","tag-argentina-world-cup-last-32-match","tag-cape-verde-world-cup-debut-performance","tag-emiliano-martinez-argentina-squad","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-lautaro-martinez-messi-partnership","tag-lionel-messi-world-cup-record-30-appearances","tag-lionel-scaloni-100th-match-argentina-coach","tag-messi-starts-argentina-world-cup-match","tag-messi-world-cup-appearances-record","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}