Argentina

Lionel Messi suspended 4 matches for insulting ref as Argentina's World Cup hopes hang in balance

Published Mar. 28, 2017 11:37 a.m. ET

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Ryan Rosenblatt

Lionel Messi has been handed a four-match ban by FIFA that will sideline him as Argentina try to qualify for the World Cup. The suspension comes "for having directed insulting words at an assistant referee" in Argentina's win over Chile last week.

The ban could not come at a worse time for Argentina. The team is third in South American World Cup qualifying, but only two points ahead of sixth place Chile. If Argentina fall three places, which is distinctly possible, they will not qualify for the World Cup. Now they have to hold onto that spot without Messi in four of their final five qualifiers.

Messi will miss qualifiers against Bolivia, Uruguay, Venezuela and Peru.

The superstar was seen berating the assistant referee late in Argentina's win over Peru after he had been whistled for a foul. After the match, the head referee did not include Messi's actions in his postgame report, stating that he had not seen what happened. According to FIFA rules, the Disciplinary Committee can only retroactively punish players if the referee did not see an incident, so they were free to hand down sanctions on Messi in this situation and they did so.

Messi is allowed to appeal his suspension, which he is likely to do. Appeals are sometimes successful and it's possible that his ban is significantly reduced, with remainder of the punishment suspended so it will only kick in if he violates the rules in a future match.

For now, Messi will certainly miss Argentina's match at Bolivia on Tuesday. After that, his availability will depend on his appeal, but Argentina will be rooting hard that is is successful. Their World Cup hopes may depend on it.

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