Messi back for March WC qualifiers – CONCACAF names American to oversee ref revamp

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BUENOS AIRES, March 8, (Agencies): Lionel Messi, who has made a brilliant start to the year for Barcelona, will play his first 2018 World Cup qualifiers this month after being named in a 29-man Argentina squad on Tuesday.

Captain Messi suffered a knee ligament injury early in the season and missed his country’s faltering start in the first four qualifiers for the tournament to be played in Russia.

Messi has scored 21 goals in all competitions in 2016 after finding the net in his last four matches at the heart of a Barca side on course for a second successive La Liga, King’s Cup and Champions League treble.

Argentina, finalists in Brazil in 2014, began the 10-nation, 18-match South American group with a 2-0 home loss to Ecuador followed by a 0-0 draw in Paraguay in October.

They recovered with a 1-1 draw at home to Brazil and a 1-0 win in Colombia in November and are in sixth place with five points, seven adrift of leaders Ecuador.

Messi will lead Argentina away to Copa America holders Chile in Santiago on March 24 and at home to Bolivia in Cordoba five days later.

Brian Hall, a 54-year-old American and former FIFA World Cup referee, was named on Monday as director of refereeing for the North American governing body of football.

The Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) appointed Hall to oversee and restructure officiating operations as well as improve on-field performance.

Last year’s Gold Cup pointed out the troubles with the organization’s referees, two controversial late penalty kicks lifting Mexico to victories that had losing coaches crying robbery, while one incident nearly flared out of control at the Mexico-Panama semi-final.

Eintracht Frankfurt has appointed former Croatia coach Niko Kovac to lead the club’s fight against relegation from the Bundesliga.

Frankfurt said Tuesday Kovac signed a contract through June next year. Kovac succeeds Armin Veh, who was fired Sunday.

Veh was dismissed after a 1-1 draw at home against promoted Ingolstadt, the team’s seventh straight game without a win. Frankfurt has slid to 16th in the 18-team Bundesliga, the relegation playoff spot, with 24 points from 25 games.

Kovac played for Hertha Berlin, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. As coach, he led Croatia to the 2014 World Cup, but he was fired in September following poor results in 2016 European Championship qualifiers.

Former Austria international Martin Stranzl said on Tuesday he will retire at the end of the season, following another injury-plagued campaign at Germany’s Borussia Moenchengladbach.

“I have not managed to be on the pitch as often this season as I had imagined,” Stranzl, who won 56 caps for Austria, told a news conference. “That is why the decision to draw the line matured in the past weeks more and more,” said the 35-year-old, struggling to fight back tears. “I regret nothing. Injuries are part of football.”

Stranzl, who had also played for VfB Stuttgart and Spartak Moscow, joined Gladbach in 2011 from the Russian club, playing 143 games in all competitions for them and quickly becoming a crowd favourite.

But after coming back in early February from a months-long break following a fractured eye socket that required surgery, the defender was injured again after only 12 days, pulling a calf muscle in training.

“I would like to be on the pitch one more time (this season),” he said. “I will do everything to say farewell to all these amazing fans.”

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