Messi and his teammates have a scheduled final match before the 2018 World Cup against Israel at jerlusalem. Everything was going well, before the Palestinians knew about this information.
protests poured into the streets to protest the match. In fact, chaos in jerlsusalem has existed since last month, when the US moved the Tel Aviv, Israel Embassy to this land. Previously, jerlusalem was a disputed area between Palestine and Israel, but Palestinians were always "afraid" of neighboring because behind Israel there was always great support from the US ally.
Thus, if the match between Argentina and Israel is held in Jerlusalem, that action is no different from one more time, Israel is recognized by a large organization such as FIFA jerlusalem as its capital. Because, at the end of 2017, despite not being recognized by the United Nations, the US still confirmed and "named" jerlusalem as the capital of Israel.
The Palestinians, perhaps out of love, turned to threaten to kill Messi if he played in the land they thought belonged to them.
Faced with that danger, the Argentina Football Federation decided to cancel the match and said that their team and Messi could not be used as "tools for the political game".
Along with Argentina's move to cancel the match, the Palestinian side has had positive words and supported this decision
"The reports we have received show that the match has been canceled despite not being officially verified in writing. If that is true, the Argentine team is truly a people of great virtue," said Mr. Susan Shalabi - President of the Palestine Football Federation.
A notable point in this incident is Messi's statement after announcing that Argentina would cancel the match. The super striker said he will not participate in the match in the land where thousands of Palestinian children were murdered. Because he is the ambassador of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Messi's statement was said to be a "fire-fighting" in the context of thousands of Palestinians protesting, demanding to burn the M10 shirt when he played at Jerlusalem, even threatening to kill him. Because the friendly schedule of national teams cannot be implemented in the style of "if you like it, arrange the match schedule, if you don't like it, just do it".
Everything was planned possible for the whole year. Moreover, this is a series of international friendlies, part of FIFA's plan to prepare for the 2018 World Cup. Albiceleste in general and Messi in particular must have known this information for a long time.
Argentina will have their opening match of the 2018 World Cup against Iceland on June 16.
