The tournament is just over a year away, but the chances of the GOAT playing in the finals are decreasing with each passing fitness concern
It's often argued that whereas Cristiano Ronaldo is a self-made superstar who had to work so hard for everything he's achieved, his great rival Lionel Messi was blessed with a God-given gift that enabled him to make the game look ridiculously easy. However, natural talent is nothing without true footballing intelligence.
As Xabi Alonso once pointed out, what makes Messi so good is his decision-making, that rare ability to always take the right option at the right time, which has as much to do with humility and efficiency, as it does vision and timing.
"He knows how and when to play simple passes," Alonso told reporters in 2023. "Messi says, 'You're in a better position? Okay, here, you have the ball.' It's not always about making the most brilliant move, but the best and smartest."
Given his increasing injury issues, one cannot help but wonder if Messi has made a rare error of judgement by prolonging an international career that could have been brought to a fittingly glorious conclusion in Qatar three years ago…
AFPEmulating Maradona
Messi approached the 2022 World Cup as if it would be his last. He was 35 years of age at the time and no longer enjoying his club football at Paris Saint-Germain.
Things were different with Argentina, though. He loved joining up with Lionel Scaloni's squad, meaning he actually looked forward to international breaks, which offered welcome respite from the toxic atmosphere at Parc des Princes.
The 2021 Copa America victory had also changed everything. After more than a decade of devastating defeats, Messi had finally got his hands on a major international honour. A weight was actually lifted from his shoulders as he dropped to his knees at the Maracana.
The pressure to emulate Maradona by leading his country to the ultimate glory remained, though, and when Argentina lost their opening World Cup group game to Saudi Arabia, in one of the biggest shocks in football history, the critics sharpened their knives.
However, those that came to bury Messi instead ended up praising him. After effectively keeping Argentina in the competition with his stunning strike against Mexico on matchday two, Messi went on to produce the most sensational string of performances seen in the knockout rounds since Maradona in 1986, as he finally got his hands on the game's most prestigious prize.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportCompleting football
As Messi kicked a ball around with his kids on a tinsel-covered pitch long after the full-time whistle had blown in Lusail, it felt like the perfect time for him to bow out. He had just completed football and ended the GOAT debate in the most emphatic fashion possible. There were no more worlds to conquer, nothing left for him to win – or prove.
Yet he decided to continue. Simply because he was now having so much fun. "I love football, and what I do," he explained. "I enjoy being part of the national team, the group. I would like to enjoy a couple more matches as a world champion."
He'd earned that right, in fairness, but "a couple more matches" turned into five friendlies, five World Cup qualifiers and an entire Copa America campaign. By the end of the latter, there were already legitimate questions over whether Messi had made the mistake of going on too long.
Getty Images SportSigns of wear and tear
Messi had made history by leading Argentina to a second consecutive Copa success, and a third major international tournament triumph, but it was clear during the 2024 tournament in the United States that the enormous physical strain that comes with competing at the highest level for nearly two decades were beginning to take their toll.
After seven goals and three assists in Qatar, Messi managed only one of each in the U.S. last summer, and ended up in tears on the bench after being forced off midway through the second half of the final with ankle ligament damage.
Despite the happy ending, with Lautaro Martinez netting an extra-time winner for Argentina, Messi making a record-breaking sixth appearance at a World Cup finals appeared an awful long way away at that point. Nine months on, though, it looks even more unlikely.
Getty Images Sport'What if he ends up injured?…'
Messi has already missed four Argentina games in the past year through injury. He's going to miss another two during the current international break, having been ruled out of the massive double-header against Uruguay and Brazil with "discomfort in his adductor region".
What's extremely perturbing is that this injury has occurred at a time when Inter Miami have been carefully managing his workload. Messi's played 90 minutes just three times since the start of the 2025 season and was also rested for three consecutive games earlier this month as coach Javier Mascherano looks to protect the reigning MLS MVP as much as humanly possible without affecting the team's competitiveness.
"What if we don't give him a certain rest and he ends up injured?" Mascherano asked on March 6. "We don't want him to be out for a month." The fact that such a significant spell on the sidelines is now a distinct possibility is a real cause for concern, for both his club and his country.