GENEVA (AP) – Lionel Messi is banned from Argentina’s next four World Cup qualifying games, dealing a blow to a campaign by the 2014 runner-up that has stuttered without him.
Messi’s suspension for “having directed insulting words at an assistant referee’’ during a home qualifier last week against Chile started on Tuesday, shortly before his teammates played Bolivia in La Paz.
Without Messi, Argentina went on to lose the qualifier 2-0.
