Report: Messi will give deposition to FIFA through video conference

The outcome of Argentina's 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign rests largely on Lionel Messi's ability to dazzle, which doesn't bode well for La Albiceleste since the Argentinian genius is suspended for three of the last four matchdays in South America.

Messi will have a chance to plead his case, but he reportedly won't be doing so in person.

According to Ole, Messi won't travel to Switzerland and will give his deposition to FIFA through a video conference on Thursday. The undersized mastermind was summoned by football's governing body after insulting an assistant referee during Argentina's unconvincing win at home to Chile, for which he was given a four-match suspension.

Messi apparently won't be alone for the video conference. Andres Paton Urich, a legal adviser to the Asociacion del Futbol Argentino, allegedly traveled to Barcelona to accompany Dr. Juan de Dios Crespo, one of two lawyers hired by the AFA to work on the appeal. The reported intention is to reduce the player's suspension to two games.

If the suspension is cut in half, Messi, who served the first game of the ban as Argentina suffocated while playing away to Bolivia, will miss the Clasico del Rio de la Plata, in which La Albiceleste will invade Uruguay.

If nothing changes, Messi won't be able to take the pitch until the 18th and final matchday of 2018 World Cup qualifying in South America, in which Argentina's lung capacity will once again be tested as La Albiceleste visits Ecuador.

Argentina sits fifth in the two-year marathon that is CONMEBOL's 2018 World Cup qualifying. Four national teams will qualify, while whoever finishes fifth will have to go through an inter-confederation play-off involving an opponent from Oceania.

The numbers speak for themselves. In the six 2018 World Cup qualifiers where Messi played, Argentina won five and lost one. In the eight that he missed, La Albiceleste won one and lost four.