The sixth (and final) World Cup act of Leo Messi
The Argentine, who against Algeria can beat Cristiano Ronaldo to the record of being the first player to have played in six World Cups, maintained the suspense until the last minute
Before he became La Pulga, Leo Messi was known as Coloradito. He is still remembered that way in Rosario. “His hair was sort of reddish. At year-end tournaments, at seven or eight years old, parents would see him arrive and say, ‘Watch out, the coloradito, that number 10, is playing today.’ You knew you had already lost or were going to have an extremely hard time,” recalls Hernán, one of his opponents back then. “We were on a team called Estrellas Júniors and he was on another called Tiro Suizo. Once we met in the final, which was played over two legs, and we won both 1-0. We had one shot on goal and they had 20. They gave us 10 bicycles, one for each of us. Sometimes we talk about those things in the WhatsApp group,” he says.
Messi will turn 39 next week, on June 24, between Argentina’s second World Cup match (against Austria) and their third (against Jordan). In the meantime, he will make his first appearance at the 2026 tournament against Algeria on June 16, with Nicolás Tagliafico the only confirmed absence for Lionel Scaloni’s team.
Since he left Qatar in December 2022 with the World Cup under his arm, there has been no greater existential question for the Albiceleste than whether Messi would sign up for the 2026 tournament in the United States. Until three months ago, even Scaloni admitted he didn’t know. Throughout that time every gesture, every word and, above all, every silence had to be analyzed. Something that has become habitual in his career. During this cycle he hinted that he might not make another World Cup and that the 2024 Copa América could be a fitting moment to bow out, as Ángel Di María had done, but he never said anything definitively. At the end of 2025 it became known he had filmed a couple of World Cup–related commercials, so simply the passage of time fed the fans’ hopes, and on Monday they arrived en masse in Kansas City, on the banks of the Missouri River.
“I simply sent him a message,” Scaloni revealed a few days ago, “and he told me he was going to wait for the squad to see if he was called up. And I replied, ‘You’re called up.’ We all expected him to make an announcement and in the end he did what any player would do: wait for the coach to call him. That gave me peace of mind.” Messi, who avoided speaking at Monday’s pre-match press conference, later explained that “it happened naturally.” “I felt good and I saw day-to-day progress. I had the chance to play, get match rhythm, and minutes.”
His first aim will be to become the first player to take part in six World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026). By a day’s margin he will reach that milestone before Cristiano Ronaldo, with Portugal playing tomorrow against DR Congo. At this stage of their careers both still have statistical niches left to contest. Mexican goalkeeper Memo Ochoa, the third player who could reach six World Cups in this edition, did not play in the opener, leaving the path clear for Messi to be the first to achieve the feat. Even more exclusive is the lure of matching or surpassing the 16 World Cup goals scored by Germany’s Miroslav Klose. Messi currently has 13, one more than Pelé and Kylian Mbappé and tied with Just Fontaine.
“The little man is a simple person who enjoys the [training] camps and is a competitive animal. That makes you not relax, to stay with him,” defender Nicolás Otamendi said. The big question is which Messi will be seen in the campaign that begins in Kansas City and how far his participation will extend as he approaches 39, and after three seasons in the comfort of MLS. Since Argentina’s coronation in the Gulf in 2022, Scaloni has managed Messi’s load and spared him some long trips in an attempt to provide him with the best conditions to prolong his international career. This time he arrived at with an overload in the hamstring of his left leg, which forced him to join training gradually.
A month ago Rodrigo de Paul, Messi’s crutch wherever he goes and his teammate at Inter Miami, said that both, beyond their club work, followed a personal training plan. “We both killed ourselves to arrive in the best physical shape. We set ourselves double sessions and we have our trainer,” the former Atlético Madrid player explained. De Paul is filming some sessions with the idea of having material for a possible documentary if the Albiceleste wins a fourth star.
De Paul and Otamendi share the room right next to Messi’s, who sleeps alone at the Origin Hotel in downtown Kansas, as he did in Qatar. The former Barça player’s room number is 202, which has sparked one of Argentina’s usual superstitions. In Doha he stayed in 201, the digits of which add up to three, and the Albiceleste took their third title. Now 202 has been interpreted by the national soothsayers as a sign of destiny not to be ignored. The science of superstition to feed the champion of America and the world.
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