With Javier Mascherano making his 143rd appearance to put him one ahead of Javier Zanetti as Argentina’s most capped player, Messi got the opener from the penalty spot after 17 minutes. He doubled their lead 12 minutes into the second half with a simple tap-in after the goalkeeper could only parry a header, scored Argentina’s third after 65 minutes, and then set up Sergio Aguero to make it four just two minutes later.
Argentina failed to add to their tally but should have been further ahead against Haiti, whose sole appearance at the World Cup finals came in 1974 and are ranked 108th in the world, 103 places below them in the world rankings. “More than the result we were able to say goodbye to our fans and show that we are going to Russia with hope,” Messi said. “We’re not going as favourites because we had a complicated time in the qualifiers, but we are training well and we will give it our all.”
Aguero was fit again after a knee injury but began the game on the bench, with Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria starting up front alongside Messi. However, both men failed to shine and instead it was Aguero and Boca Juniors’ Christian Pavon who staked their claim for a World Cup place when they came on after an hour. Argentina now fly to Barcelona to prepare for World Cup matches against Iceland on June 16, Croatia on June 21 and Nigeria on June 26.
Meanwhile,Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli has complained that his side have to play their final World Cup warm-up match in Israel. The squad will fly to Barcelona today to continue their preparations.
The match in Jerusalem against Israel will be their last before travelling to Russia. “I’m not the one who decides when we play and who we play,” Sampaoli said after the victory against Haiti at La Bombonera. All 20,000 tickets for the friendly in Jerusalem sold out in 20 minutes, the company handling the sales said.
In another warm-up match, Peru overcame Scotland 2-0 in Lima. Peru out-thought, outplayed and out-muscled an understrength Scotland, who rarely threatened at the Estadio Nacional in a rematch of a famous 1978 World Cup encounter between the sides that the South Americans won 3-1.
Christian Cueva put Peru 1-0 ahead after 36 minutes from the penalty spot before Jefferson Farfan took advantage of slack defending just seconds after the break to complete the scoring.
The victory was Peru’s third in a row against European opposition following friendly wins over Croatia and Iceland, and fills them with optimism as they head to their first World Cup since 1982. “Peru is ready to face any team in the world,” Peru coach Ricardo Gareca told reporters. “This team is prepared to resolve problems that come our way.”
Peru are now unbeaten in 13 games but have been drawn in one of the most difficult pools in Russia, alongside France, Denmark and Australia in Group C. In another game in Panama City, the hosts prepared for their first ever World Cup with a 0-0 draw against Northern Ireland. Panama, who are in Group G with England, Belgium and Tunisia, have one final friendly against Norway in Oslo scheduled for next week.