He's Going

For months, the question wasn't whether Argentina would be at the 2026 World Cup. It was whether Messi would be. A muscle injury kept him out of the March international window. The Argentine FA said the right things — he's in our plans, he'll be assessed closer to the time — but the uncertainty was real. At 38, playing in MLS rather than a top European league, there was a version of events where Lionel Scaloni looked at the fitness data and made the hardest call of his managerial career.

He didn't have to. Messi is fit. Messi is in the squad. Messi is going to North America for his sixth World Cup, making him the only male player in history to appear in six editions of the tournament. He plays for Inter Miami in Harrison, New Jersey — about 10 miles from MetLife Stadium, where the Final will be played on July 19. The symmetry is almost too neat.

What His Teammates Said

"With Messi, we might have scored two or three more goals," Julián Álvarez said after one qualifying match played without him. That single sentence explains everything about what Messi means to Argentina. They are a good team without him. With him, they are capable of winning any match in the world.

Scaloni has built a team around Messi rather than a team that includes Messi. Alexis Mac Allister wins the ball and finds him. Rodrigo De Paul, also at Inter Miami, runs the channels to create space for him. Lautaro Martínez makes the runs that drag central defenders away. Every system decision begins with the question: how do we get Messi the ball in the best position?

The Context: Defending Champions

Argentina come into this World Cup as defending champions — the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the final against France, the penalty shootout, Messi scoring twice and setting up a third, the trophy finally lifted. That was supposed to be the ending. It might be. Or it might be the penultimate chapter, with the real ending written at MetLife Stadium, 20 miles from where Messi has been playing his club football.

Jackson Heights in Queens will be watching every match at full volume. Roosevelt Avenue will be covered in blue and white. For New York's Argentine community — one of the largest outside Argentina — this is the most emotionally charged sporting moment of their lives. Messi, 38, at the World Cup, on home soil. The whole city will be following.