Topic: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread - page 99. (Read 57565 times)

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.

To be honest, even if Messi plays in the next World Cup in 2026, I don't think if we can expect to see a good performance from this player because Messi is not going to be in good form anymore and even if we consider him as a legendary player, he still can't have the same performance, I think the bet thing he could do was to get retired from the national games before 2026.

Interestingly enough, perhaps that was one of the factors behind Ancelotti willingness to accept the job and leave his managerial seat at Madrid. The difficulty of managing the National Team for every coach lies in the selection of players who will be called up, not in the number of matches and the busy schedule. I agree with you that this job is good for people who are planning their retirement.

I think the golden generation in the Brazilian national team will never end, new phenomenal seeds like Neymar will always emerge. In fact, I miss someone like R9, everything looks easy when there are players like him on the field. On the other hand, even though Brazil current situation is not good, considering that there is still quite a long time available, they can improve the situation for the better in the future.

Brazil does look for a new manager that much is known, biggest name that is going around is Ancelotti, not sure if he still wants to manage because there are rumors of him wanting to retire, but if he does want to continue, then getting a national team is the best for retirement type of person, you get like 10-15 games a year with that team that's it, instead of 50-60 games with a club. This is why I honestly believe that it could be very well for Ancelotti to take place at Brazil.

Plus, even in a scenario where the worst could happen for Brazil on the short term, they are a football culture nation and they will continue to produce great talent and they will be fine, even in an issue for them now, could be solved very easily later on when the time comes, maybe this generation is not that great and the one that comes after this will be better. ıts true that they are not the Brazil we know from 10-20 years ago, but maybe they will be the best nation in another 10-15 years, who knows?

Ok I had a quick look and the interview he gave there on the Star+ documentary seems to be trustworthy. I didn't watch it, but assuming it is true these statements are quite interesting as he never said it so clearly and never gave a hint to what is on his mind about the upcoming international tournaments. I think it is great news if he stays fit. It would be an enrichment for the World Cup and when he doesn't play all games, it doesn't matter. Having him around one more time is great and I believe Ronaldo will be there, too. 

I think it will be out of place to compare a defender to a striker, Messi is still a key player provided he still players for the national team, he is still very much optimal with his performance and possibly would be allowed to captain the team if need be because of his abilities.

The fact that they won a game with or without him does not in anyway make him less of a key player, his presence alone in that team is such a big influence that can't be undermined by the fact that there are other younger players doing well already, it's normal that various erra comes and aswell pass but it still doesn't displace the relevance of the previous, the rising of new stars in the team is a norm that should be encouraged just like before Messi were others. Conclusively provided Messi is still a player in that team he remains key to them, winning match in his absence does not dispute that and it's really a good thing the team is becoming this strong.

I see that there are MANY Messi fans here and they're anxious to know if he's going to play in 2026 or not hahaha
Here's a very recent news item where the player himself admits the possibility of playing in the 2026 World Cup



Source

Make your bets 

Argentina and Uruguay are probably the best teams in the South American qualifier this time around.

Brazil is definitely not the classical Brazil that we all love.

Since winning the World Cup is so hard, it wouldn't be a surprise if they don't win it again. But which team do you think would be strong enough to win the title? I am quite sure that the vast majority will go with France, but I was taught a lesson last time because I was very confident that France would win the final game against Argentina. But I wasn't wrong for the first time. Guessing who is going to win a World Cup title is a losing game because chances are low that someone gets it right. My guess would again be France because I think they have the best chances, but that doesn't mean they are above all other teams.

If Messi keeps playing until 2026, there is a high chance for this player to play in the next World Cup in 2026 and he can get into another World Cup with his team but I don't think this time Argentina will achieve the title of the next world cup against so maybe getting retired before next world cup can be a wise move from Messi.

I think it is more of a mutual dependency as Messi loves the game and wants the excitement that the Argentinian team can give him. The Argentinian people of course. Messi is a genius that can produce special moments in a game every time, but his game becomes more about passing the ball spaces that nobody else can identify that quickly and then serve as precisely. He is also more about free kick goals. His dribbling skills will decline in speed within the next 3 years I think, but I would still appreciate to see him play. With the role he has in the team, 38 years doesn't sound like too high of an age to still play a World Cup.

He is still a key player even he is not the same as King Messi a few years ago, any teams against Messi team will set up the defense strategy to mark him.

Argentina still needs Messi for at least 2-3 years ahead and he will always become a key player there, maybe he will retire after the World Cup 2026.