Argentina have cancelled their final world cup warm-up game against Israel, striker Gonzalo Higuain confirmed on Tuesday.
“They have finally done the right thing,” Higuain said in an interview with ESPN, confirming reports that the game has been cancelled. The match at Jerusalem’s Teddy Kollek Stadium was to be Argentina’s last before they kick-off their world cup campaign in Russia on June 16.
There was no initial reaction from the Israeli FA or from Israeli politicians. According to reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called Argentinian President Mauricio Macri to ask him to persuade the team not to cancel their visit. Israel Radio quoted a diplomatic official saying chances of salvaging the fixture were very slim.
The visit of former world champions has attracted huge interest of Israeli fans, especially because of Lionel Messi’s planned participation.
Soon after the match was called off, Palestinians celebrated the cancellation. In Gaza, people cheered and in Ramallah in the West Bank, the Palestinian FA issued a statement thanking Messi and his colleagues for cancelling the game.
Thank you! @Argentina cancels "friendly" match with Israel. #ArgentinaNotGoing! Striker Gonzalo "Pipa" Higuaín says, "Not going was the right thing to do." Good luck at the #WorldCup. pic.twitter.com/CBwtEKWVj2
— PACBI (@PACBI) June 5, 2018
“The Palestinian FA thanks Argentina’s players led by star Messi for refusing to be used to serve a non-sporting goal.”
Palestinian FA chairman Jibril Rajoub said, “Values, morals and sport have secured a victory today and a red card was raised at Israel through the cancellation of the game.”
The twice world cup winners will face Iceland, Nigeria and Croatia in what is considered to be one of the hardest groups in the FIFA World Cup.