First the Argentines were routed 6-1 by Spain, then starting goalkeeper Sergio Romero was sidelined because of an injury and then on their way to Russia they caused an international incident by stopping in Jerusalem to play Israel in a friendly.
That didn’t get a friendly greeting from the Palestinians, so the Argentine soccer association canceled the game. For Messi, it all brought back bad memories: two years ago, frustrated with a national association mired in scandal, he briefly retired from international soccer.
The AFA tried to make up for its latest disaster by flying the team to Russia on the Rolling Stones’ private plane, but the whole episode became a distraction Messi didn’t need before stepping on to sport’s biggest stage Saturday, when he and Argentina open their World Cup against an Iceland team that is far from star-struck.