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Argentina has bitter memories of 1994, the last time the United States hosted the World Cup.
After the second group stage match, national icon Diego Maradona was expelled from the tournament due to a positive doping test. Maradona would never play another World Cup match and Argentina were eliminated in the round of 16.
Thirty-two years later, the South American powerhouse is hoping for a happier ending for Maradona’s heir, Lionel Messi, who turns 39 this month and is widely expected to retire from international football after the curtain falls on the 2026 World Cup, which the United States co-hosts with Mexico and Canada.
If he and Argentina manage to retain the World Cup trophy they won four years ago in Qatar, they will become the first team to win back-to-back titles since Brazil in 1962. It would also strengthen the claim of those who already call Messi the greatest player of all time.
“I love to play football and I will do it until I can’t anymore,” Messi told Argentine journalist Joaquín “Pollo” Alvarez in a YouTube interview. “I’m competitive, I like to win everything, I don’t even let my kids win at video games sometimes. It’s just my nature and what led me to achieve everything I have.”
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
After more than 20 years of playing for Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami, Messi’s body is showing signs of wear and tear. A week ahead of what will be his record sixth World Cup, he is recovering from a hamstring problem that led to his substitution during Inter Miami’s final pre-tournament match on May 24.
The Argentina captain trained on his own at the team’s base camp in Kansas City this week.
“We all would have liked Messi to come without problems, but that is not the case. Not only him, most of the players are not fully recovered yet,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni told DSports, a Latin American television network.
Fitness concerns
Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, the hero of two penalty shootouts in 2022, including the final against France, suffered a fractured ring finger on his right hand during the Europa League final while playing for Aston Villa.
Defender Cristian “Cuti” Romero is recovering from a knee injury he sustained in mid-April while playing for Tottenham. Right backs Nahuel Molina and Gonzalo Montiel are dealing with muscle injuries, as is midfielder Leandro Paredes.
Argentina, also champions in 1978 and 1986, plays its first group stage match on June 16 against Algeria in Kansas City. Next up in Group J are Austria on June 22 and Jordan on June 27 in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas.
Scaloni relies on 17 of the 26 players who won the World Cup in 2022, although several are not in top physical form.
“Why change them if they don’t deserve it? We have always been honest with them. The players who are here today have shown us that they want to be here. And secondly, their level has not dropped,” Scaloni said.
Argentina won the 2024 Copa América, finishing top of the South American World Cup qualifying group.
Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez is key to Scaloni’s attack, with Barcelona, Arsenal and PSG reportedly battling for his signature next season. The coach has also brought in three debutants: midfielder Valentin Barco, who recently signed for Chelsea, and striker Nicolas Paz, a key player for Como in Italy, and Juan Manuel López, top scorer for Brazilian club Palmeiras.
A notable absence compared to four years ago is Angel Di Maria, who retired from the national team in 2024. Besides Messi, he was instrumental in Argentina’s success in Qatar.
“It is impossible to fill Di María’s shoes. He and Messi are irreplaceable,” Scaloni said.
A future without Messi is hard to imagine
Messi has always subdued himself and tried to lower expectations for another World Cup title.
“We have to get excited, as the Argentines always do, but we also have to know that there are other favorites ahead of us who are in better form,” he said.
Messi already holds the record for most World Cup appearances (26) and needs four more goals to surpass Germany’s Miroslav Klose’s record of 16 World Cup goals.
Although he has not explicitly said he will retire from the national team after the World Cup, he dropped a big hint last September when he spoke of the team’s qualifier against Venezuela in Buenos Aires as his last competitive home game for Argentina.
“It was very emotional, knowing this was my last competitive game here,” he said after the game at the Monumental Stadium. “I’ve been through a lot in this stadium – some great moments and some difficult – but it’s always special to play in front of our fans.”
Scaloni, like most Argentines, also gets emotional when you think about a national team without Messi.
“I like to think he will keep playing, because otherwise you get upset, like what happened with Diego (Maradona),” Scaloni said in an interview published on the website of South American football confederation CONMEBOL. “They are players who have written history in football and thinking that they will not play anymore does not leave you alone. I prefer to think about the present.”
Report from the Associated Press.
