Argentina, Lionel Messi Headed to Gillette Stadium This Weekend

revolutionsoccer.net

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Argentina, the world’s No. 1 ranked team, and international superstar Lionel Messi are headed to Gillette Stadium this Saturday for the quarterfinals of Copa America Centenario.

Messi and Argentina will face Venezuela in the tournament’s quarterfinal round at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 18. As of Wednesday morning, almost 50,000 tickets have been sold for the game – including more than 15,000 sold in the last 72 hours.

This will be Argentina’s first visit to Foxborough since the 1994 World Cup, when Foxboro Stadium served as the country’s home base with opening games against Greece and Nigeria – both wins.

Messi, the 2015 Balon d’Oro winner as the world’s player of the year, will be making his first-ever appearance in New England. The four-time world player of the year and Barcelona stars leads the Argentine squad that capped group play with a perfect 3-0-0 mark behind last night’s 3-0 win over Bolivia in Seattle.

Argentina’s Copa America squad also includes Angel Di Maria (Paris St. Germain, FRA), Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli, ITA), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City, ENG) and Javier Mascherano (Barcelona, ESP), among many others.

Venezuela advanced to the quarterfinals with a second-place finish in Group C with a 2-0-1 record, matching Mexico on points and taking the second seed by virtue of a lower goal differential. The two teams played to a 1-1 draw on Monday night in Houston, lifting Mexico into the top seed.

The Venezuela team is highlighted by Tomas Rincon (Genoa, ITA), Salomon Rondon (West Bromwich Albion, ENG), Oswaldo Vizcarrondo (Nantes, FRA) and Luis Manuel Seijas (Santa Fe, COL).

Copa America Centenario – whose 16-team field included half of the world's Top 10 nations per the April FIFA Rankings – is being broadcast around the world, and on the Univision Network and FOX family of networks, as well as on Futbol de Primera Radio, in the United States.

Buy your tickets now at CA2016.com
Copa America Centenario tournament schedule
Follow the tournament news at the event's official Twitter account and Facebook page

The full Copa America Centenario Knockout Round schedule follows:

QUARTERFINALS

Thursday - June 16, 2016 CenturyLink Field (Seattle, Wash.)

Game 25: USA (1A) vs. Ecuador (2B) -- 9:30 p.m. ET | FS1, UniMas, UDN

Friday - June 17, 2016 MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, N.J.)

Game 26: Colombia (2A) vs. Peru (1B) -- 8 p.m. ET | FS1, UniMas, UDN

Saturday - June 18, 2016 Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

Game 27: Argentina (1D) vs. Venezuela (2C) -- 7 p.m. ET | FX, Univision, UDN

Saturday - June 18, 2016 Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, Calif.)

Game 28: Mexico (1C) vs. Chile (2D) -- 10 p.m. ET | FX, Univision, UDN

SEMIFINALS*

Tuesday - June 21, 2016 NRG Stadium (Houston, Texas)