Lionel Messi does a Shahid Afridi: Argentina striker reverses decision to retire

Lionel Messi is back. The Barca superstar has announced his return to Argentina's national team for their World Cup qualifiers in September, ending his two months retirement period from international football.

Messi, 29, hanged his boots after missing a penalty in the shootout against Chile in the Copa America Centenario final. It was third consecutive loss for Argentina in a major final in two years.

On Friday,"I see that there are a lot of problems in Argentina football and I don't want to create more," Messi, who was included in the Albiceleste's 18-man squad to face Uruguay and Venezuela, said. "I don't want to cause harm, on the contrary, my goal was to help in any way I could."

Messi, who is Argentina's all-time leading scorer with 55 goals in 113 appearances, made reference to federation problems a few days before the Copa final, saying the AFA, Argentine football's governing body, was "a disaster" after the team suffered delayed flights and experienced problems finding opponents for training games.