It’s almost time for the World Cup. Before the tournament, we’ll be previewing each of the top 15 teams by FIFA rankings that made the tournament. Why the top 15? Because that’s how many we needed to do in order for the USMNT to make the cut. You can read all of our previews here.
Every country heading into the World Cup faces pressure, but not in equal amounts. For a side like Brazil, who hasn’t won the World Cup in an unacceptable 24 years and hasn’t even made it to the semis in either of the last two tournaments, the pressure can be suffocating. That’s the type of pressure Argentina had heading into 2022, but thanks to one of the greatest soccer matches of all time coming out in Argentina’s favor, the level of pressure heading into the 2026 edition has to be at a decades-long low.
Thanks to lifting the trophy in Qatar in 2022, the ghosts of Diego Maradona and the 1986 World Cup have stopped haunting this Argentina side, and the country enters this summer’s tournament playing with something like house money. Of course, Lionel Messi and co. would love to become the first team to repeat as world champions since Brazil in 1962, and only the third overall. And sure, Argentina comes in with enough talent and experience to reasonably consider itself a true contender. But, so long as the team doesn’t implode like recent world champions (Germany in 2018, Spain in 2014, Italy in 2010), the vibes will likely be great coming out of the World Cup for Argentina, no matter the end result.
Playing without that crushing weight of expectation should allow Argentina to be looser and more joyful, both on the field and off. Messi seems to be enjoying his path to retirement, playing in Miami with a bunch of his buddies, and the Argentina side will likely take their cues from the No. 10 and captain. There’s still hunger here, and it is the World Cup, where legends are truly made, so I don’t expect Argentina to come out lax and nonchalant. It’s more that the catharsis of finally winning has only made everything come easier for Argentina, who qualified out of CONMEBOL’s meat-grinder in a very comfortable first place, 11 points ahead of second-place Ecuador, and who won the 2024 Copa América along the way. Argentina is a dangerous side, full of great players, and if they can all play to their potential without much anxiety weighing them down, this team is a real threat to win the whole thing.
Who Is Their Main Guy?
Four years ago (OK, like three-and-a-half), I wrote that Lionel Messi had no more mountains to climb, no more ghosts to chase. He had not just finally won the World Cup, but had dominated on the way to the trophy, scoring seven goals and creating so many highlights that it’s hard to pick a favorite. (I’d say it’s still probably the pass for Argentina’s opener against the Netherlands.) I thought that the 2022 World Cup would be Messi’s last, a way to go out on top in an ending too good for storybooks. It would have been perfect, like Michael Jordan retiring after winning the 1998 Finals …
… but like Michael Jordan, Messi couldn’t stay away. Unlike Jordan, though, Messi is still operating at something close to the peak of human performance, if not his own otherworldly standards. After winning the 2022 tournament, Messi went on a victory lap of sorts at the 2024 Copa América, and though he had to be subbed off, in tears, due to injury in the final, Argentina completed the Copa-World Cup-Copa trifecta without him. Even that would have been a great way to end things, but here we are, entering the 2026 World Cup with Lionel Andrés Messi not just on the Argentine roster, but still and obviously so the country’s best and most important player.
Messi has slowed down at the age of 38 (he will turn 39 during the tournament), and he’s not quite as good or as agile as he was even just four (three-and-a-half!!!) years ago, but the saying “class is permanent” applies to an almost hilarious degree here. Since moving to Inter Miami in 2023, Messi has been the best player in the Americas, because of course he has. Even in MLS, it is ridiculous for a guy of Messi’s age, no matter his talent, to be producing at the level he is: He has 12 goals and 7 assists already this season, and it’s only been 14 FREAKING GAMES. Messi has become used to playing on American fields, in American summer weather, and will be as fresh as he ever has been for a World Cup, thanks to the tournament coming halfway through the MLS season. He’s also as in form as he could be, and with a coach and a set of teammates who all understand what they have to do in order to help Messi unlock the god-slaying levels he’s so capable of reaching.
Messi might not have the jets to demolish Josko Gvardiol’s spirit like he did in Qatar, but he can still dribble around anyone anywhere on the field, he can still put passes on a penny from many yards away, and he can still shoot better than anyone in soccer history. Maybe this is the tournament where age finally catches up to Messi, and Argentina can’t overcome a dip from “legendary” to “merely very good,” but nothing about the intervening cycle since that glorious trophy lift in Qatar has hinted at a steep decline from the greatest of all time. Messi might not have anything left to prove, and no new trophies to win, but can you imagine if he finally decides to retire having won back-to-back World Cups? What an ending that would be? Well, at least until he decides to go for three in a row in 2030, anyway.
Who Is Their Main Defending Guy?
Cristian Romero is Argentina’s most important player, non-Messi division. The Tottenham center back (for now, anyway) is the rock at the back of the Albiceleste formation, and one of the best defenders of his generation. Despite Tottenham’s struggles the past two seasons, as well as a couple of leg injuries, the most recent a knee injury that has kept him out of training since April, Romero is still the key for everything Argentina wants to do in defense. Romero doesn’t have prototypical center back build—he’s only 6-foot-1—but he is quick, both in pace and in processing opponent intentions, and he seems to always be in the right spot at the right time. And, even despite his height, he’s still a monster in the air; he won roughly 3.2 aerial duels per game last season in the Premier League, his highest league average since his first season at Tottenham.
If there’s a weakness to Romero’s game, it is mental. He sometimes loses focus and dives in recklessly; he earned two red cards this past season for Spurs, and averages around 10 yellow cards per campaign since moving to Tottenham. He’ll have to watch out for accumulation of yellows because Argentina’s center back depth isn’t particularly great, though he will also likely be helped out by the decision to reset yellow cards after the group stage and after the quarter-finals. If the man nicknamed Cuti can stay on the field and keep his head in the game, though, Argentina will rely on him to help steady the ship so the ball-playing midfield can push up into the opposing half and make life hell.
Who Is Most Likely To Break Out?
There aren’t many players primed for a breakout to pick from on this Argentina side. That’s by design, mostly; manager Lionel Scaloni brought back the foundation from the 2022 World Cup-winning side and then replaced players who either retired from the national team (Ángel Di María) or fell out of favor (Paulo Dybala). This is not a side with an eye to the future, but the future of Argentinian soccer might already be here anyway in the form of 21-year-old Como midfielder Nico Paz.
Born in Spain to an Argentine father (Pablo Paz, who appeared at the 1998 World Cup for the Albiceleste), Paz has been a Real Madrid player since he was 12 years old. However, it was only with his move to Como in 2024 that he began to get real game time and, in turn, to show how good he could be. (Madrid still owns half of his playing rights, so Paz might yet still don the all-white jerseys in the Spanish capital.) Paz is a modernized version of a classic Argentina No. 10, someone capable of supporting strikers with both vision and runs off the ball. He’s got incredible skills on the ball, particularly in open space, and he’s not afraid to shoot: This season, he scored 12 goals in 35 league appearances as Como rocketed up the table to finish fourth.
Perhaps most excitingly, Paz is strong for such a technical player, thanks in part to his size (6-foot-1), which means he can get into the mixer for headers and hold off defenders when he has the ball in the box. Paz will likely not start for Argentina, but having someone with this combination of skill, quickness on the ball, and size is a luxury for Scaloni. I’m especially intrigued by the prospect of Paz and Messi playing together, if only to see the present and future of the Albiceleste play in hopefully perfect harmony together.
Who Is Most Likely To Eat Shit?
It’s hard for a goalie to demand so much attention for everything but his shot-stopping, but it’s also hard for anyone else to be Emiliano Martínez. The Aston Villa keeper loves to be the center of attention and seems to thrive off of pressure, all to the benefit of his national team; key penalty shootout saves helped Argentina first win the 2021 Copa América and then, a year later, lift the country’s first World Cup trophy in 36 years. Martínez was all-important along the way, first in the quarter-final shootout against the Netherlands (covering up, luckily, for his own mistakes in regular time) and then in the final, when he, quite ludicrously, blocked Randal Kolo Muani’s late shot and then saved Kingsley Coman’s penalty en route to winning the Golden Glove award for best goalie in the tournament.
So, that’s all great! But, there’s a catch: Martínez did not have a great season at Aston Villa, even as the Lions of Birmingham finished in fourth place in the Premier League. He often looks to be out of position and he processes his own decisions just a bit slower nowadays. Add in his penchant for trolling and how easily and embarrassingly that can backfire in front of the whole world, and there’s just enough potential for mayhem to keep an eye out. Martínez is still more of a positive than a negative for Argentina, both for his skills and his love of pressure, but four years on from his heroics in Qatar, he’s not quite the same keeper he was the last time he was on the world stage. Argentina will need him to rein it in.
How Can They Win It All?
The way Argentina wins the 2026 World Cup looks similar to the way it won the 2022 edition. The roster is mostly unchanged from Qatar, and the plan should be similar: Defend well, rely on Emi Martínez in high-pressure situations, and, most of all, ride Lionel Messi into that glorious sunset. Last time out, Argentina didn’t have the best team, but it did have Messi and enough good players to help him carry the load. That might be enough this time around, too. The formula remains the same: Put Messi in positions to be the best player in the history of the world, and let him do his thing. Even in the twilight days of his legendary career, Messi can still do that, and so Argentina has a shot in every match and tournament it enters. It won’t be the favorite this summer, but it wasn’t the favorite last time, either, and look at how well that worked out.
