Sinner leads Italy to Davis Cup semifinals; Australia edges past USA
Defending champions Italy advanced to the Davis Cup semifinals on Thursday after defeating Argentina 2-1, with world No 1 Jannik Sinner winning the singles and doubles match.
Barcelona player Luis Suarez has defended Lionel Messi over claims suggesting that the Argentina captain influences Argentina’s team selection. As per the striker, Messi enables each coach or manager to make their own choice and never interferes with their work.
Argentina registered a 2-0 victory upon Venezuela in the Copa America quarter-finals to set up conflict against their most outstanding adversaries Brazil in the semi-finals. Lautaro Martínez demonstrated his class and superb football skills as he scored the opening goal of the match in just the tenth minute to give his team the lead after which Argentina never looked back.
Giovani Lo Celso doubled the lead in the 74th minute after going ahead as a substitute to seal the game.
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The Albiceleste are yet to break their trophy drought, having lost two back-to-back Copa America finals against Chile, in 2015 and 2016. They moreover had to endure heartbreaks in the FIFA World Cup, after they were crushed by Germany in the 2014 World Cup final.
In the meantime, Lionel Messi excelled in another superb season with Barcelona, finishing the season with 51 goals for his club. However, the 32-year-old hasn’t been in prime form in Copa America, scoring only one goal in this season.
With capable players like Dybala and Icardi not featuring in the Argentina squad, there have been questions posed in regards to Messi’s influence over the team’s selection. Luis Suarez has rubbished those claims, expressing that the Argentine normally does not articulate a word with regards to these parts of the game. He also went on to say that these rumours hurt him as a human being.
It is worth noting here that Messi had retired from international football but came back to play for Argentina in order to help his team end their trophy drought.
Argentina will next face Brazil on 3 July, Wednesday in the Copa America semi-finals.
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