Why Lionel Messi Should Avoid Playing in the 2026 World Cup
The beauty of a fairy tale is that it usually has a happy ending. In 2022 Lionel Messi of Argentina apparently ended his story in the best of ways holding the World Cup trophy in his hands. He stated that this would be his final World Cup. However, temptation is just around the corner as the 2026 World Cup is nearly upon us. Lionel Messi, through the words of his national team coach Lionel Scaloni, is feeling the itch to play one more time on the world's largest soccer stage. “We will have to wait and see how things develop,” Scaloni said, “He, Messi, knows what we are thinking, and he is the most intelligent of us all.”
As smart as Messi is on the pitch, will that translate to an honest appraisal of his chances should he decide to participate in the upcoming World Cup? The opportunity for failure far outweighs the chances of success. Many feel Messi should quit the national team while he is ahead. Messi risks tarnishing a legacy that took too long to build. After spending the majority of his career domestically untouchable he found that at home his skills did not translate to similar success. It took a long time to develop a supporting cast talented and ambitious enough to match his own. The results have been the best run for the Argentine club since the Diego Maradona days when they captured the 1986 World Cup and were a finalist in 1990. When you mix in two Copa Americas wins in 1991 and 1993 Argentina looked Invincible.
Then came a 28-year dry run for one of the elite soccer countries in the world. Messi broke the spell in 2021 at the Copa America. Success became a habit suddenly with the 2022 Finalissima victory over European champion Italy followed by the World Cup in 2022. Messi captured a second Copa America in 2024 where he was injured but carried by his teammates for a change. Messi could not ask for more at age 37, but all runs come to an end. There are many obstacles in the way for Argentina if they want to repeat as champions.
The first one is of course age. Messi turned back the clock at 35 when he captured the World Cup. He will be 39 if he attempts to climb this mountain again. One has to go all the way back to 1982 when Dino Zoff captained Italy to the Cup at age 40. The second oldest was Brazil's Nilton Santos, who was the same age as Messi when he won it all. There are no others that have accomplished this at those stages of their careers.
The second barrier is travel. Messi has played in the United States in MLS for Inter Miami. He has captured a couple of trophies here but at the 2024 Copa America, a dry run for the upcoming World Cup he pointed out his distaste for the pitches and the weather. This problem will increase by three as this is the first tri-hosted World Cup. In 1994 when the United States last hosted the tournament teams had difficulty crisscrossing the country. Now a potential contender may have to play in Mexico and Canada as well as the United States, the strongest of the three continental favorites for the World Cup. This will require stamina and that favors the younger teams which brings us to reason three.
Messi will have younger rivals who are looking forward to the challenge of usurping Argentina from the throne. The Finalissima that has yet to be scheduled between Argentina and the latest European champion Spain which would serve as a true barometer of how Argentina would do this time around. Spain possesses a young phenom in Lamine Yamal, who at 17 left quite an impression on Euro 2024. Kylian Mbappe is surely planning his revenge for France after just failing to repeat themselves. England has a triple threat of youths in Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, and James Maddison. Brazil, Argentina’s blood rival, has Vinicius Junior, and the hosts United States is led by captain Christian Pulisic. There is no shortage of young challengers to the Messi throne.
History suggests a fourth reason. No one has repeated as World Cup champion since the Brazil teams of 1958 and 1962 led by Pele. Italy did in 1934 and 1938 previously before that. But six decades later no one has been able to pull this off. Now with the gap between the haves and have-nots officially closed it will be near to impossible for any nation to win two in a row. So age, travel, and youth are all barriers against Lionel Messi hoisting the trophy for a second time. He will also be without his trusted wingman Angel Di Maria for the first time. The prognosis would seem to imply that this fairy tale if extended to a sequel, will not live up to the original.
