“The initial diagnosis indicates an overload associated with muscle fatigue in his left hamstring,” Inter Miami said of Lionel Messi on Monday, after the Argentina captain limped out of the Herons’ weekend win over Philadelphia Union. “The timeline for his return to physical activity will depend on his clinical and functional progress.”

Messi set off alarm bells for Miami - and for all of Argentina - when he asked to be substituted in the 73rd minute of Sunday’s MLS game, heading straight to the locker room while clutching his left thigh.

However, despite the discomfort in his hamstring, Messi’s recovery timeline appears to be under two weeks, meaning he should still be available for the start of the Argentinians’ World Cup defense, which kicks off on June 16.

“The early news isn’t too bad”

“We were watching the [Miami] match at the [Argentina] training complex,” Albiceleste head coach Lionel Scaloni told an interview with DSports this midweek. “We noticed he asked to come off, that something wasn’t right. The early news isn’t too bad.

“Naturally, we would have preferred nothing had happened at all. Now we have to wait and see how he progresses. Above all, he’ll have more tests, I imagine, to confirm that everything is as they’re saying.”

Scaloni added: “Of course, we would have liked him to go into [the World Cup] without any issues, but that hasn’t been the case with him or with most of the players who’ve had physical setbacks. They’re not fully recovered. Our goal is to get them back to full fitness and make sure they go into [the tournament] in the best possible condition.”

As it builds up to this summer’s finals in North America, Argentina now turns its attention to upcoming friendlies against Honduras and Iceland, on June 6 and 9, respectively. Drawn into Group J, the two-time champions will then face Algeria, Austria and Jordan in the opening round of the World Cup.

At a glance - Argentina’s match schedule:

International friendlies:

• June 6, 8:00 p.m. ET: Argentina vs Honduras, College Station, TX
• June 9, 8:30 p.m. ET: Iceland vs Argentina, Auburn, AL

World Cup Group J:

• June 16, 9:00 p.m. ET: Argentina vs Algeria, Kansas City, MO
• June 22, 1:00 p.m. ET: Argentina vs Austria, Arlington, TX
• June 27, 10:00 p.m. ET: Jordan vs Argentina, Arlington, TX

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