The Argentine national team officially won a place in the 2026 World Cup after the FIFA Days in March. Therefore, the press and fans of this country immediately turned to Messi, urging and expecting him to confirm his participation in the tournament, at the age of 39, to defend the title won in 2022 in Qatar.
Messi has now scored four goals and provided two assists in five appearances for Inter Miami since the start of the 2025 season.
Photo: Reuters
"It's best to leave him alone. He will decide whenever he wants. Don't make him crazy about this," coach Scaloni expressed before the ongoing incident and almost put pressure on Messi, forcing him to attend the 2026 World Cup.
"There's still a long time ahead, before the 2026 World Cup. Let's wait and see what happens, there's still a lot of time. We still have to take it game by game, otherwise people will be talking about the same thing for the rest of the year. We need to leave Messi alone, we'll wait and see. He'll decide whenever he wants, don't make him crazy about this," coach Scaloni emphasized once again.
Messi did not play in the FIFA Days in March due to a last-minute injury. Without him, Argentina still won both matches against two big rivals in the South American region, Uruguay 1-0 and Brazil 4-1. Thereby, they got tickets to the 2026 World Cup finals in a very convincing way.
Without Messi, in the last 20 matches, the Argentina team has won 15, drawn 3 and lost only 2. Therefore, Messi's role in Albiceleste is increasingly being effectively taken over by his juniors. However, all Argentines, including coach Scaloni and the players, always want their captain to be in the team.
"We miss him a lot. Messi is our captain, our leader. He is indispensable to us. The important thing is that he recovers, is healthy and we show him that he can rest assured, the captain has left the ship smoothly," midfielder De Paul, Messi's close friend, expressed.
Meanwhile, striker Julian Alvarez, who has been an excellent replacement for Messi, said: "If we had him, we could have scored two or three more goals (in the 4-1 win over Brazil)."
How is Messi actually doing?
Messi is suffering from an adductor injury. The 37-year-old has been out of action for several weeks since the beginning of 2025, the first time due to muscle fatigue and overload. The most recent time, he has been out of action since Inter Miami beat Atlanta United 2-1 on March 17. This is the reason Messi withdrew at the last minute and did not return to the Argentina national team for the last two matches.
Coach Scaloni does not want to pressure Messi to confirm participation in the 2026 World Cup
Photo: Reuters
Messi has now returned to training, but there is still no certain sign that he will return to play for Inter Miami in the home match against Philadelphia Union at 6:30 a.m. on March 30, in the 5th round of the MLS (USA).
According to Marca , Messi can only play in the two matches between Inter Miami and Los Angeles FC (April 3 and April 10) in the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Interspersed with that is the match against Toronto FC (in MLS) on April 7.
Avoiding Messi from being overloaded and affected by an adductor injury that is at risk of becoming more serious has become a big problem for Inter Miami and coach Mascherano.
Therefore, the pressure on this famous player to compete in the 2026 World Cup clearly creates a lot of pressure, while Messi himself has long confirmed that he is not in a hurry or too eager at the prospect of participating in another World Cup, when he has achieved everything he wanted in his career in Qatar 2022.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ly-do-hlv-scaloni-canh-bao-viec-hoi-thuc-messi-xac-dinh-du-world-cup-2026-185250328100746831.htm
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