Topic: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread - page 122. (Read 62939 times)

A lot of people seem to not give Di Maria the importance that he deserves. He is a very important player for Argentina. And he is a very devastating player, especially in the finals. It seems like Argentina is playing a final, he is scoring. And yes, even in 2026, he and Lionel Messi are going to be very important for Argentina. Of course, Lionel Messi is someone who can perform at any given time even at this age. He scans the field and finds weaknesses in the opponents defense. And at any given time he is able to penetrate that defence.

People should not think that just because he is old he will not be able to perform.

Duke

Lionel Scaloni, of course, has played an important role in the current champion Argentina team becoming champions. Although there is some kind of misunderstanding between Leo Messi and Lionel Scaloni. Leo Messi and Lionel Scaloni must be reformed for the sake of the team. Because Argentina course without Lionel Scaloni if they want to play the 2026 World Cup, it will not be very good for their team. The important role Lionel Messi will play for their team. Of course, the role of Argentine course Lionel Scaloni is also very important. Argentina have been playing very well in the qualifiers, so they should be careful not to leave Lionel Scaloni out of the squad.

I agree with both of you that Di Maria and Lionel Messi are still one of the best players of Argentina's squad but you know what's the most interesting thing? Many say Di Maria and Lionel Messi are old and they say themselves that they are old but that's not the end. Recently I read an interview with Messi on Goal.com. Messi said that due to his age, it's normal for him to not participate in World Cup 2026 but he said that he wants to be here more than ever because he feels great with the current team of Argentina and wants to enjoy playing with them. So, to sum up, it's Messi's plan to retire for 2026's world cup but at the same time he isn't confident that he will retire because he feels very happy with the team.
By the way, it's confirmed that Di Maria and Messi will play for Copa America 2024. Di Maria plans to retire after that but he may change his mind, who knows? I believe we will see Messi in World Cup 2026 but I am not so sure about Di Maria.
Messi is such a phenomenal player. Yes, he is getting older but at the same time his vision is on another level, he almost always scores free kick. It's not necessary for him to be a Striker or Central Forward, he can tremendously help his team with his vision (assists) and with free kicks that he can score so damn well.

In Argentine, they believe in Messi and I think even if Messi breaks some rules or has a bad relationship with the coach, still people will keep supporting him and there is a high chance for Lionel Scaloni to leave the team because he knows the fans will still support Messi even if his behavior was not good. Because usually, the coach is responsible for that not a player and Messi is just a player.
That's why maybe we will see Argentina playing in the 2026 World Cup without Scaloni.

The strained relationship between Lionel Messi and Lionel Scaloni is just one of the few reasons why the World Cup-winning coach wants to leave the Argentine national team. There are reports that Scolani was not pleased with the way Messi led other players to the dressing room without consulting the coach or other technical staff during the violence-filled match against Brazil. The coach felt he should have been consulted before Messi took such a decision. So this might confirm that there might be a sort of power tussle between the coach and the world's best player.

Scolani's decision might also be connected to the maltreatment he has been receiving from Argentina Football Association (AFA). His World Cup bonuses have been delayed even after winning and the association was also wasted time before they extended his contract. There are also reports that the AFA president Claudio Tapia is not pleased with Scolani because he refused to use the national team's platform to support a presidential candidate that the FA chief wanted to win the elections.

It is also possible that the Argentine coach has started receiving offers from top European clubs. The pay and the work conditions of these clubs will be better than coaching the  Albiceleste. There are reports that he might be heading to Spain where he has some experience where he worked as an assistant and youth team coach in Racing Santander and Mallorca. But for me, I think he should leave when the ovation is loudest.

@nullama I personally feel that Messi should quit and allow the country to rebuild and the difference is Ronaldo kept testing himself to the highest level by coming in the premier league and then moving to Saudi League while Messi chose the easy route of playing in PSG and then in USA. Also Ronaldo has maintained his fitness better then Messi hence if I had to pick one of them at the World Cup then I would definitely pick Ronaldo.

Well, yeah, that's true.

But Messi is already in retiring age, and he just won the world cup.

It would be a perfect time to retire, at the peak of his glory.

If he goes and plays the world cup and doesn't win, that would be a bit of a downer for his retirement.

And if he does win, then it would not be as huge because he just did it.

But this is again hard to verify for anyone because I remember that this kind of rumor that Messi decides who is going to be the coach and who has to leave is not new. Every time when a coach has to leave the club Messi is playing for or the national team, there are rumors that Messi has something to do with it. But why would that be the case when Scaloni publicly said that he wants Messi to keep playing for Argentina and if possible also for the World Cup 2026? Has there ever been an argument between the two that has become publicly known? I don't know of any problems between them.

News about Messi, Argentina, and Lionel Scaloni is not good and it seems Lionel Scaloni wants to leave the team, I remember in the Qatar World Cup when Argentina won the title, Scaloni said he wanted to even use Messo in the next World Cup in 2026. But it seems the relationship between Messi and Lionel Scaloni is not good and Lionel Scaloni is leaving the team because of that.



https://theathletic.com/5114467/2023/12/05/lionel-scaloni-argentina-coach/

I mean it would be quite possible for Messi to be in 2026 world cup, that is about 2 years away, which means that he would be only 38 years old, I think Ronaldo was something close to that on the last world cup and he did alright, why wouldn't Messi be alright at 38 years old. I get that we are not used to it, I understand that we have seen many players retire before 38 years old, and it's still common, but at the very least we need to realize that we are seeing more and more players not retiring at early ages anymore.

I remember when I was a kid, a player that was 32 years old would be someone near the retirement age, but nowadays we are seeing in every sport where people play until 40 and even some more maybe after that. I think Messi will be just fine at 2026 world cup, and in fact I can take it one further and say that in 2030 if he is still playing hen he could be at the squad. Yes, 42 year old Messi may not be that great, but he wouldn't be like not top 25 neither, he could be still at the squad even if just for leadership.

Argentina have good regeneration and I sure not have to worry if Lionel Messi retired from national teams, for attacking line I think Lutaro Martinez and Julian Alvarez will be more perfect replacement for Lionel Messi looking their performance with Inter Milan and Manchester City, many regeneration have been success before and Argentina always get best result on every competition but under Lionel Messi they have won Copa America and FIFA World Cup 2022. Lionel Messi is not only as top striker for Argentina but also he was right figure how to motivate their team mates in the field and success achievement many trophies will be difficult for Argentina fans if one day later Lionel Messi have retired from national teams.

Actually FIFA World Cup 2026 is most excited edition for him and all fans want to see his last appearance with national team before he will retired from football professional career or leave his national team.

Argentina will be aiming to defend the Copa América trophy after winning the 2021 edition. We also know that Lionel Messi will lead the Argentine national team because he is still actively engaged in national football. Argentine national team coach Lionel Scaloni made it clear after the World Cup that the door of the national team will always be opened to Messi and that he will always be welcomed to the team. Messi has not also misused this opportunity because he has been hardworking and continued to contribute positively to the Argentine national team. We saw his outstanding performance and influence in some of the recently played World Cup qualifiers, I do not doubt that he will keep improving. However, I think the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States might be his last game for the national team.

But the greatest of them all is Lionel Messi. He was instrumental in most of the recent successes that the Argentine national team has enjoyed. Argentina and Brazil produce some of the best players in the world. But sadly only a few of them have been fortunate enough to win the Ballon d'Or.

Well.. Argentina is a team with enough player depth. When Diego Maradona retired, a lot of people were saying that no one will be able to replace him. But then, Gabriel Batistuta and Ariel Ortega did that in the next world cup. After Batistuta, it was the turn of Hernán Crespo, Gonzalo Higuaín and Sergio Agüero. And now it is the turn of Lionel Messi, Ángel Di María and Nicolás Otamendi. Once these players retire, someone else will take their place. And Argentina do have quality youngsters such as Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez.

Di Maria and Leo Messi are the key players in the current champion Argentina team. No one can ever take their place. Especially the way Messi has performed on the field so far, if we see Argentina's qualifiers are playing very well, so maybe we can see Messi in the 2026 World Cup. Argentina's team management will definitely ask Messi to play in the 2026 World Cup. Messi can tell himself how fit he will be physically. Of course we can see Leo Messi in 2026 World Cup if he wants. After the upcoming Copa America, maybe we will have a clear understanding of whether Leo Messi will actually play in the 2026 World Cup.

It affects performance, but performance can also change in various respects. Being slower is of course worse than being faster. But Messi has been optimizing his teamplay for many years now and in my eyes he is one of the best and most accurate passing players in the world. If he still has some outstanding strikers around him who are also very fast, Messi's passes can make the difference in any game on any level. That's one of his big qualities and not to mention that he is still able to score goals himself with all the experience and accuracy he has.

Messi is a bit of an outlier, he has shown excellent results even when getting older.

But, having said that, getting older definitely affects performance, and after 40 specially, things will just get harder for him to do. Things that were easier will become a challenge.

He will have to work harder to keep his level, and with so many great young players, which are about half his age, things don't look too good for him in the next world cup.

Even though Messi is not playing in Europe and is already older and the Argentine national team has many good players available in the national team, they still cannot play well without Messi. It is enough to see that in the last World Cup, Messi and Di Maria were the most important players in the team and even today they continue to be so, and Argentina still does not have other players who have great potential to occupy Messi and Di Maria's positions and be able to perform. the same level that Messi and Di Maria perform. In attack I see Lautaro Martinez as an excellent goal scorer, he has been playing. but he has other good players who are not put on the field to play, such as paulo dybala

I can't understand why Argentina's coach calls on Dybala but even when Argentina during the game is having a comfortable goal advantage over the opponent and Argentina's coach doesn't play Dybala and this has happened in many games, even when they are games In friendlies, Argentina's coach does not play Dybala and other players, so Argentina is dependent on a very limited number of players and on the day Messi retires, the team may have difficulty beating strong teams. France and England are good teams that have a good squad, while England do not depend on just one player, France depends on Mbappe, but the difference between France and Argentina is that France has young players while Argentina depends more of players who are close to retiring

There is no doubt that Messi is not going to have a good performance even if he plays in the next World Cup. Messi is currently in the good form and he can play in the World Cup if we are going to see the World Cup in this season but we are talking about the next season when Messi will get older and this will be harder for him to have a good performance.

I doubt Lionel Messi will be the best level top performance for FIFA World Cup 2026 is still with Inter Miami team, he was absent almost one month for playing with his club after Inter Miami not qualified to playoff round and bad impact for the best player not in the competitive more than three months later. Actually Lionel Messi will focus upcoming event with his national team Argentina for defending the Copa America trophy before talking with FIFA World Cup 2026 two years later.

Lionel Messi will be 38 years old when FIFA World Cup start but if still stay with Inter Miami not sure will him on the top level performance or not because MLS League not really high competitive such as European competition. Actually 38 years old still compete for players who on the top level perform and keep playing with most competitive league.

Messi is performing the way he is still performing and if he can continue to play, he will definitely be able to play in the 2026 World Cup. His physical fitness will depend on whether he will play the 2026 World Cup. The course and management of current champions Argentina want Messi to play the 2026 World Cup if he is physically fit. Now it's about how well Messi can make the team perform if he plays in the 2026 World Cup. Those who are Messi fans must want Messi to play the World Cup in 2026.