{"id":44645,"date":"2026-09-04T18:39:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=44645"},"modified":"2026-09-04T18:39:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:39:56","slug":"argentina-to-honor-lionel-messi-with-10th-minute-tribute","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/argentina-to-honor-lionel-messi-with-10th-minute-tribute\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina to honor Lionel Messi with 10th-minute tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"
All soccer matches in Argentina this weekend will be paused in the 10th minute for a 60-second round of applause to honor superstar Lionel Messi, the Argentine Football Association announced.<\/div>\n
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The tribute follows Messi announcing his retirement from the national team on Monday.<\/div>\n
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Messi, who is 39 years old has worn the No. 10 jersey most often while representing Argentina.<\/div>\n
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\u201cFor the upcoming matchday across all men\u2019s and women\u2019s divisions and disciplines, matches will be paused in the 10th minute of the first half for a minute of applause in recognition of Lionel Messi\u2019s career with the Argentina national team, Furthermore, stadiums equipped with screens must broadcast the Association\u2019s institutional video prior to the start of the matches.\u201d the AFA announced late Wednesday.<\/div>\n
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The Inter Miami star led Argentina to a runner-up finish in this summer\u2019s World Cup.<\/div>\n
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In eight matches, he had eight goals to bring his final tally to 125 career international goals (21 in World Cups).<\/div>\n
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\u201cAfter the time that passed since the final, thinking about it a lot, I want to communicate to everyone that I am retiring from the national team,\u201d Messi wrote Monday on Instagram.<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt was a decision that hurt and hurts in a soul, but I understand that this is the moment. I swear to you that I always gave everything, not just in the last few years when we won everything but before as well and I always fought and left everything on the field for this shirt, to give you all joys and make you feel proud to be Argentines through soccer.\u201d<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s a second retirement for Messi, who originally said he was done with international play after a 2016 Copa America final loss to Chile.<\/div>\n
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He opted to return and led Argentina to the World Cup championship in 2022 and Copa America titles in 2021 and 2024.<\/div>\n
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Messi did not indicate whether this could also be his final season in Major League Soccer (MLS).<\/div>\n
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\u201cI leave with the peace of mind and pride of having given you along with my teammates, moments we once only dreamed of. Experiencing this with you was incredible. I love you all,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
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Messi, an eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner as the world\u2019s best player, currently is in his fourth season with Miami.<\/div>\n
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Last season, he led the team to its first MLS Cup championship and won the league MVP award for the second consecutive campaign.<\/div>\n
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\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44306,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-44645","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Messi, who is 39 years old has worn the No. 10 jersey most often while representing Argentina.","published_date":"","news_description":"Messi, who is 39 years old has worn the No. 10 jersey most often while representing Argentina.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44646,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44645\/revisions\/44646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=44645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}