Topic: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread - page 97. (Read 62850 times)

Cristiano Ronaldo will definitely be in the squad for the 2026 World Cup if he is not injured this time around. If he gets injured then his performance will be badly affected and the Portugal management may not consider him in the squad. Cristiano Ronaldo is in the game because he is still maintaining his fitness and playing well in the Saudi League.  

Not that stars like Messi and Ronaldo always have to perform at their best, but when they are with the team, the team gets a different courage and the team players are more active. Other young players can't finish like Messi and Ronaldo, and they can play under pressure but other players can't. So I think even if Cristiano Ronaldo is 41 years old, he will play the 2026 World Cup.

I don't agree that Messi is still the best player, you maybe mean Messi is the best player in the world which is totally wrong but if you mean Messi is the best player in Argentina I still think that's not tight because in Argentina there are many their younger players than Messi and if they get a chance they can even have better performance than him since he is getting old and that's why he should think about getting retired even before the world cup.

What makes Ronaldo special and different from other players is that Ronaldo is really hardworking and very consistent. There are not many players with that kind of determination. So I think Ronaldo will still be called up to the 2026 World Cup and will probably be one of the oldest strikers to appear at the 2026 World Cup. Even though his performance is no longer the same as in his prime, Ronaldo is the same as Messi. They can make a difference and improve the morale of other young players. I still remember when Ronaldo encouraged Joao Felix when he was about to take a penalty at Euro 2016 and that really boosted Joao Felix's morale so he could take the penalty with confidence.

Age is a big factor in football. Cristiano Ronaldo is definitely very conscious about his fitness but as he gets older, his body can't give him the performance he used to. Ronaldo doesn't have the speed he had when he was 25. It's normal, after Cristiano Ronaldo left Europe for Saudi Arabia, he was performing well there, but he didn't perform very well in Europe because he couldn't match the pace of the European players.

Some of his dribbling in the Saudi league is sometimes sad because the dribbling that he normally used to do with confidence, now he has to struggle to do that dribbling and sometimes he fails. We don't see the speed that Cristiano Ronaldo used to score and the way he ran. 

We are in 2024 and at this time Cristiano Ronaldo will be 39 years old and in 2026 he will be 41, performance wise there will not be much difference between 39 years and 41 years.  So if the performance he is doing now is right for the team, then he can definitely represent for the 2026 World Cup team.

In conditions like this and at the same time currently between Ronaldo and Messi we see a very striking difference between the two in playing performance and the quality of energy on the field in each match, this can also be one of the assessment points that cannot be ignored deny it.
Ronaldo is indeed older than Messi with 3 year age difference because Ronaldo himself is 39 years old while Messi is 36 years old but in terms of performance Ronaldo is still much better than Messi and Ronaldo performance is much better, this is one of the advantages that Ronaldo has.
Many of the other players may be the same age as Ronaldo but they are not great players, age is an obstacle for most football players to maintain their performance but this has no effect on Ronaldo.
He is player who has clean or healthy lifestyle, he doesn't like alcohol, he really stays away from things that can cause him to have declining performance and I sure that at the age of 41, at the same time as the World Cup competition, if he doesn't retire then can defend Portugal.
I sure that the performance he has can still provide many benefits for the Portugal national team in participating in the 2026 World Cup competition, in contrast to Messi, where many people also do not believe or doubt that Messi will be able to participate or play well in the World Cup when he can defend Argentina.

The age of aging depends on the physique if it is able to maintain its performance and physical strength, the performance on the field will remain good and will not be affected. but if the physique weakens, playing will not be able to reach 90 minutes. when the physique weakens, even though the performance is still good, the brain and physique will not be able to synchronize, which has the effect of worsening performance on the field.

We can only hope that both of them can perform and take part in the upcoming 2026 World Cup. It does sound a bit unreasonable, because the age of Ronaldo and Messi becomes a challenge that the coach must consider. Calling them back to the national team is an obligation, because if not, the national team coach will be criticized. However, on the other hand, calling them also raises other risks, where it is very unlikely that both players will be used as substitutes only.

Apart from the two megastars, of course we want to see new potential young players emerge in the upcoming World Cup, who can steal our attention and not just be limited to Messi and Ronaldo. Like Mbappe and so on, I think that's a special attraction in the World Cup.

Messi is currently holding the holding the title of the best player but then it's a title that isn't held by a person forever and so they pass it on every Year and another person becomes the title holder, in essence I'm saying that Messi is ageing and soon he will no longer be in his prime to continually keep the title rather it will be given some one else.

Old age is something we can't eliminate from the life of a player because they will definitely age and another generation of players would emerge making their own era pass and same is inevitable with Messi and even his most contended Ronaldo and of course their era is gradually fading away and soon we would be seeing the era of new generation of players who are in their prime, in the next 4-5 years from now I'm sure there will be no worries about the Messi and Ronaldo era again as they are both not in the prime of that era but will be referred to as legends.

It depends on himself and his own situation, if I'm not wrong, Ronaldo is currently a 39 years old and still he has good performance in every game we saw from him during this season in the Saudi League playing for Al Nassr, but none knows if anything about the future of Messi and the performance he is going to have in the next year when he gets older like Ronaldo.

Messi will not be the player they need for playing, he will be the player they need for leading. When a team has a commander that they would die for, that makes it a lot easier for the players to do what is right. Messi is not only the captain, but the king in that team, and his word is without questioned and straight up being done. Any manager would love a player like that as long as you get along with the player, if you do not get along with the player then that is not easy decision.

All in all I think the best way to go on would be making sure that Messi stays, it will benefit them and there is no real reason not to get him. I always say, there aren't any other player they could get instead of him that would be better than him.

Messi will be 38 years old in 2026, it really is a big challenge to maintain all his competitiveness at that age, but as there is no one to take his place I believe he will go to this last cup and still play as a starter...

What I'm curious to know is about the Brazilian team, with its new coach Dorival Jr., this coach is very good and generally has a good relationship with the players and has their trust, despite being the worst Brazilian team of all time, I want to see if there really is a coach can make a difference.

The younger players might want to be coached by Messi, rather than be able to play with him. 2026 is far off and I am not sure whether Messi will remain fit for another 2.5 years. And since Lionel Scaloni is doing such a great job as the coach of the Argentina national football team, I am not sure whether Messi might have an opening there as well. He can become the assistant coach though. May not be a bad deal. But as I said, two and half years is like very long time, and unexpected things can occur by then.

But young Argentine players still really idolize Messi. Even though there are many other Argentine legends, it is certainly an honor for young Argentine players to be able to play with Messi. And it will also increase the motivation and quality of young Argentine players. But still, without Messi, Argentina is still considered one of the strongest football teams in the world. As you said they have potential young players and several players who were part of the 2020 world cup squad. This is a combination that can intimidate other teams in the world cup.

The truth is that even before the birth of Lionel Messi, Argentina have already been known as one of the biggest footballing nations and should Lionel Messi decide not to continue playing for the Argentine national team, they're still gonna be major contenders for any competition they playing in and that's because of the intimidating quality of players in the Argentina national team as well as the young players in the team that's shown great potentials already.
That being said, Lionel Messi remains a pivotal member of the Argentina team and until he decides to call it a day in his illustrious international career, Messi will still be regarded as the most important member of the squad.

I think it will be better for Argentina if they accept the fact that Lionel Messi is not going to perform very well in the next World Cup. And they should also plan accordingly. Now is it possible that Lionel Messi will come on as a substitute player and turn the tide of a match? Yes, it is possible.

But if they are expecting something like the Barcelona days of Lionel Messi or even the Lionel Messi from the last World Cup, I think they will be sadly mistaken. Even though Lionel Messi is definitely one of the best players in the world, I don't think even he can perform as one of the best when he is old. But I definitely think he could still be a good substitute player for Argentina to have.

Regards

Duke

Argentina was a strong team even before Leo Messi I remember this team was playing very well and they were playing in the World Cups even without Messi. Regardless of that, they should accept that Argentina will finally lose Messi one day and it's better for them to get ready for it and try finding younger players instead of Messi for their team.
Currently, I think Argentina doesn't want to accept the age of Messi and his current situation because he is not in the good form anymore.

Actually Lionel Messi is the most important players for Argentina in FIFA World Cup 2022 but I don't think Lionel Scaloni still needs him in next World Cup edition because the level competition Lionel Messi teams right now is not on the highest level such as when playing with  European team. I doubt Lionel Messi keep become the most important players for Argentina although his name still in the list for Argentina squad next World Cup.
If some one playing with the competition has lower level than European team, their performance will increase down and not the same when playing with European team. Are you expect with Lionel Messi has the same level performance last world cup and next edition of world cup?

Argentina can survive with out Leo Messi? I think so because the players I've watch in previous Qater world cup, they were classic and display their potentials against top countries. Argentina deserves every bit of what they have today because they worked so hard for it. The debate of the GOATs comes to an end after Leo Messi lifted the World Cup after winning France in Penalty shootouts, it was hurting for the former Champs but they have to accept defeats in good faith. Leo Messi is important for Argentina because he has his own style of play that do creates valuable aides for his country side.

If one can still play, particularly with a substantial contract, it is better to continue. Except for retirement in the Argentine national team, it makes no difference. A player's salary is significantly high when compared to being a coach. If Messi wants to become a coach, he must start from the beginning and may or may not be successful or capable of coaching. This is because many players become top and skilled players when they become coaches but are poor at coaching.

In fact, Messi is an experienced player in Argentina and he can help the team but not as a player in the 2026 World Cup, Messi is a good player and he can guide younger players like Lautaro Martínez and Julián Álvarez to have better performances be he can do that as a coach but not as a player but currently I think Lautaro Martínez has much better performance than Messi and he can definitely help the team in the 2026 world up more than Messi.