Chinese authorities cancel Argentina friendlies amid Messi backlash

Chinese authorities have canceled two Argentina friendlies next month amid a growing backlash over Lionel Messi’s failure to play in Inter Miami’s friendly in Hong Kong.

Last month, the Argentina national team announced two March friendlies in China, the first against Nigeria in Hangzhou and the second against Ivory Coast in Beijing.

But the Hangzhou Sports Bureau said in a statement on Friday that it had pulled the plug on the match that was set for the Olympic Sports Center Stadium.

The following day, the Beijing Football Association nixed the Ivory Coast game, saying in a statement to local media: ‘Beijing does not plan, for the moment, to organize the match in which Lionel Messi was to participate.’

There has been growing anger over the Argentine star’s injury-related absence against a Hong Kong select side on Sunday, in part due to his participation in Miami’s friendlies before and after the game in Hong Kong. Additionally, Miami head coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino said the day before the match that Messi was ‘likely’ to play.

The government-affiliated Global Times in China released a scathing editorial this week speculating Messi’s absence in Hong Kong was due to “political motives,” and that “external forces deliberately wanted to embarrass Hong Kong through this incident.”

Inter Miami has since apologized for Messi’s absence and the event promoter, Tatler Asia, has offered fans a 50 percent refund.

Messi also offered an apology on Chinese social media platform Weibo, saying that his groin injury flared up at the last minute and despite a strong desire to play, he was unable to do so.

‘I hope we will have the opportunity to go back [to Hong Kong] one day,” the 36-year-old said.