Jamaica’s Rodolph Austin says it will be an honour to face the Barcelona superstar in Chile
Jamaica international Rodolph Austin says that he will live out “a dream” when he shares a field with Lionel Messi in his side’s Copa America meeting with Argentina on Saturday.
The two sides go head to head in their final Group B fixture, the Albiceleste sitting top with four points, while the Reggae Boyz are bottom having lost both of their matches thus far.
Austin, released by English Championship club Leeds United last month, can’t wait to take on the four-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“It’s definitely a dream come true for me personally and all my team-mates to even be on the same pitch as Messi,” he said.
“It’s a pleasure for them. It’s for us just to go out there and do our best against the Argentina team because it’s 11 men on the pitch.
“Messi is the best player in the world, a fantastic player and it seems like he’s a nice guy.
“I don’t know him personally, but on the pitch he’s very humble. It’s just for us to go out there and do our best against him and the rest of the 10 men on the pitch.
“Anything can happen. The ball is round and as you can see in the tournament, all the games have been very close.
“We can go out there tomorrow [Saturday] and give a good account of ourselves and do very well as a team.”
Jamaica’s only chance of qualifying is to win and hope that is sufficient to go through as the best third-placed side.
