Lionel Messi

Writing about Lionel Messi at a World Cup requires a calibration of perspective that no other player demands. At 39, he is not the Messi who dismantled defenses in La Liga for two decades. He is not even the Messi who turned the 2022 World Cup in Qatar into a one-man showcase of genius — seven goals, three assists, the player of the tournament award, and the trophy that completed one of sport most perfect careers. The Messi who arrives at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA is older, playing in Major League Soccer for Inter Miami, and managing a hamstring that gave Argentina medical staff genuine concern two weeks before the tournament began. And yet. Messi confirmed his place in Argentina squad, joined the camp, and the defending champions entered the 2026 World Cup as genuine contenders — not because the squad is demonstrably better than the one that won in Qatar, but because Messi presence transforms what is possible for this team. His vision, his ability to unlock defenses with a single pass, his set-piece delivery, and above all his leadership — the way he wills his teammates to believe in moments of doubt — are not things that decline at the rate of pace or physical output. Messi at 39 losing a step is still the most intelligent footballer on any pitch he inhabits. This is his sixth World Cup. He debuted at Germany 2006 as a teenager and has appeared at every tournament since. He has scored at every World Cup he has played in. No player has had a longer, more sustained relationship with the World Cup than Messi. That he is here in North America — arguably the soccer heartland of his current life, given his Miami home — adds a geographical poetry to what everyone expects will be his farewell. Whatever happens, the world will be watching when Messi takes the field. Because it will, at some point, be the last time.