Lionel Messi, the five-times World Player of the Year, said he was looking forward to the World Cup in Russia and was targeting at least a semi-final place with Argentina. Beaten finalists four years ago in Brazil, Argentina have not won a major international title since 1993 when they lifted the Copa America. They reached the final of the same tournament in 2015 and 2016 but lost both times and Messi said the successive failures weighed heavily. “It’s a weight that we carry and we want to overcome it,” he said.
Argentina kick off their World Cup campaign against Iceland on June 16 and then face Nigeria and Croatia. They have struggled under coach Jorge Sampaoli, who took over last year and has won just five of his 10 games in charge. Argentina beat Italy 2-0 in a March friendly but that victory was sandwiched by a 4-2 loss to Nigeria and a 6-1 hammering by Spain. Spain are one of the favourites for the tournament, Messi said, along with Brazil, Germany and France.