Argentina
Reigning champs whose best player is 38, playing his last chance — and he opened with a hat-trick.
Team rating
- Attack89
- Midfield86
- Defense88
Next matches
- Next upvs AustriaAT&T Stadium, Arlington, TXJun 22
- vs JordanAT&T Stadium, Arlington, TXJun 27
The read
Argentina are the defending champions and the world's #1-ranked team, but they carry a weight no one else does: Lionel Messi, widely called the best to ever play, is 38 and on his certainly-final World Cup. The stakes aren't just to win — they're to send him out right. He opened with (three goals) against Algeria, and they top the group with a clean 3-0.
The fan’s readReigning world champions and a whole country holding its breath for one last Messi miracle — he opened with at 38. The stakes are not just winning; they are sending him out right.
Live storylines
- Messi's Last Dance
The defending champion and the greatest player of his generation is at his record SIXTH and certainly final World Cup, age 38. He chases the one record left: the outright all-time World Cup goals record. This is the last time the planet watches Messi at a World Cup.
Vintage hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Algeria (June 16) — his FIRST-ever World Cup hat-trick at age 38, drawing level with Miroslav Klose on 16 career WC goals, the all-time record. One more goal makes it his outright. Argentina top Group J.
The cast
- Lionel ScaloniThe coach who led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title, still in charge defending it in 2026manager
- Lionel Messi ★The first man ever to play six World Cups opened his last one with the first hat-trick of his World Cup career.ClubInter Miami CF
- Lautaro MartinezArgentina's actual on-form striker arrives as Serie A's top scorer and a Scudetto-winning captain.ClubInter Milan
- Julian AlvarezA World Cup winner at 22, now fighting in real time to be the man after Messi.
