Messi comes off the bench to score in Argentina’s final World Cup warm-up

Lionel Messi came off the bench and scored a penalty as Argentina wrapped up their World Cup preparations with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Iceland in Auburn, in the US state of Alabama.

Messi came on in the 70th minute and set up a penalty kick with his first touch of the match, before converting the spot kick to double Argentina’s lead on Tuesday evening. Valentin Barco and Thiago Almada also scored for the South American giants as they came through their final warm-up game unscathed.

Messi, 38, missed Argentina’s first friendly against Honduras on Saturday as he continued his recovery from left hamstring soreness, which forced him to prematurely exit Inter Miami’s final match before the World Cup break on May 24.

He set up the penalty with a throughball to Lautaro Martinez, who was taken out by Iceland goalkeeper Elias Olafsson. Messi buried the spot kick into the roof of the net, scoring the 117th international goal of his career.

With his World Cup status seemingly certain, Messi is set to set a record this month alongside Cristiano Ronaldo when he appears in his sixth career World Cup.

Experimental lineup

Messi was joined on the sidelines at the start by Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister as Lionel Scaloni named an experimental lineup in front of an 88,000 capacity crowd.

Iceland should have taken the lead in the first few minutes when Mikael Egill Ellertsson blasted over with the goal gaping.

Instead, the three-time world champions took an early lead.

Iceland could only partially clear a goalmouth scramble inside their box, and the ball broke to Strasbourg defender Valentin Barco to fire into the bottom corner.

Nico Paz failed to make the most of his chance to shine in Messi’s absence and wasted a big chance to make it 2-0 before half-time when his powerful hit was repelled by the face of Iceland goalkeeper Elias Olafsson.

Fernandez and Mac Allister were introduced among five Argentinian changes at the break.

Lautaro Martinez was another to make his entrance at half-time and twice hit the post when he should have doubled Argentina’s advantage.

The expectant crowd had to wait until the final quarter for Messi to make his appearance.

The Argentinian legend was involved again for Argentina’s third goal as Messi’s pass fed Rodrigo De Paul, who squared for Almada to tap in.

Iraq lose final warm-up match

Elsewhere, Iraq’s World Cup preparations suffered a blow as they lost 2-0 to Venezuela in their final warm-up friendly before the tournament in Bridgeville, Illinois, on Tuesday.

Midfielder Cristian Casseres opened the scoring for the South Americans in the 17th minute with a close-range finish.

Venezuela doubled their lead immediately after the interval when Casseres won the ball before passing to striker Jesus Ramirez, who dribbled past a defender and fired in a powerful shot.

Iraq finished the match with 10 men after forward Ali Youssef was shown a straight red card in the 72nd minute.

Iraq return to the World Cup finals for the first time since their only appearance 40 years ago, and will begin their Group I campaign against Norway on June 17 before facing France and Senegal.