Current:Home > NewsLionel Messi won't close door on playing in 2026 World Cup with Argentina -NextFrontier Finance
Lionel Messi won't close door on playing in 2026 World Cup with Argentina
View
Date:2025-04-13 13:55:20
Although Lionel Messi said his 2022 World Cup run would be his last, Messi left the door open to possibly playing in the 2026 World Cup with Argentina, during a wide-ranging interview with Infobae.co published Friday.
Messi, who turns 37 in June 24, will captain the defending 2021 Copa América and 2022 World Cup champions again this summer, in what could likely be his final major tournament played for his beloved home country.
He’ll be 39 when the next World Cup is underway. But soccer fans around the world, especially in Argentina, want to know if Messi will compete again when the United States, Canada and Mexico host the tournament.
“It depends on how I feel, how I am physically and being realistic with myself. And to know if I am up to the task of being able to compete and help the colleagues next to me,” said Messi, the Inter Miami star in Major League Soccer.
“There's a while left and I don't know how I'm going to be at that moment,” Messi said.
“Age is also a reality that is there, although it is a number, the games that I am going to play, are not the same as the ones I played when I was in Europe in competition, which were every three days, or in the Champions League or in the League where I was, both in France and in Spain. But it depends on how I feel and how I feel when I'm next to my teammates and see if I'm still up to the task or not.”
Messi says he lives in a state of “tranquility” after his World Cup win in Qatar, and still hasn’t watched a replay of the victory against France outside of a few match highlights.
“My memories are all here and I live it the way I have it here and I remember what I remember. There are many things that escape me, but well, for now I'm keeping what I have without going over it,” Messi said. “I looked at repetitions of a lot of plays, but of the game, of the 90 minutes, of extra time, penalties and all that, no.”
Messi discussed a number of topics during the interview, including his late grandmother, how his wife and family have adjusted to life in the United States since moving to South Florida last July, he doesn’t believe his old Barcelona teammate Neymar can also join him at Inter Miami, and his outlook on soccer after his World Cup victory.
“Obviously having won and having achieved the whole goal at the National Team level, you live differently, with another tranquility,” Messi said of his World Cup victory.
Messi and Argentina will take center stage in the Copa América opener against Canada in Atlanta on June 20. They’ll play against Chile at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on June 25, and against Peru at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on June 29. The final is set for July 14 in Miami.
But first, Messi and Argentina will play two friendlies in the next week, meeting Ecuador at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday, then Guatemala at Commanders Field in Landover, Maryland, on June 14.
Argentina has been preparing in South Florida for this month’s Copa América at Inter Miami — Messi’s fútbol home for nearly the past year since joining Major League Soccer in the United States.
Asked about Argentina being a favorite in the tournament, Messi said:
“I think that Argentina is always a favorite, beyond the fact that we come from winning all that. Previously, when it was not given that we could achieve the objectives, also Argentina was always a favorite,” Messi said.
“When a championship starts, whether it is the World Cup, Copa América or whatever, Argentina is a candidate just like Brazil and more in this Copa América. But I think that today the South American national teams are very strong. Uruguay is very good, Colombia, Ecuador. Then it becomes very difficult to play all the games, but I think it will be a very equal Copa América.”
veryGood! (63)
Related
- The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Dodo
- Lando Norris earns 1st career F1 victory by ending Verstappen’s dominance at Miami
- This week on Sunday Morning (May 5)
- Illinois Gov. Pritzker calls for sheriff to resign after Sonya Massey shooting
- A look at commencement ceremonies as US campuses are roiled by protests over the Israel-Hamas war
- 'It's one-of-a-kind experience': 'Heeramandi' creator Sanjay Bhansali on why series is a must-watch
- Kentucky Derby 2024 highlights: Mystik Dan edges Sierra Leone to win Triple Crown's first leg
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- What do cicadas sound like? These noisy insects might be in your state this year
Ranking
- Kourtney Kardashian Cradles 9-Month-Old Son Rocky in New Photo
- Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands Is the Biggest Conservation Opportunity Left in the West. If Congress Won’t Protect it, Should Biden Step in?
- What to know about the 2024 Kentucky Derby
- Senate races are roiled by campus protests over the war in Gaza as campaign rhetoric sharpens
- How breaking emerged from battles in the burning Bronx to the Paris Olympics stage
- NHL Stanley Cup playoffs 2024: Scores, schedule, times, TV for second-round games
- Shooting in Los Angeles area injures 7 people including 4 in critical condition, police say
- Horoscopes Today, May 3, 2024
Recommendation
JoJo Siwa reflects on Candace Cameron Bure feud: 'If I saw her, I would not say hi'
Real Madrid wins its record-extending 36th Spanish league title after Barcelona loses at Girona
Complaints, objections swept aside as 15-year-old girl claims record for 101-pound catfish
Padres manager Mike Shildt tees off on teams throwing high and inside on Fernando Tatis Jr.
John Galliano out at Maison Margiela, capping year of fashion designer musical chairs
Former security guard convicted of killing unarmed man during an argument at a Memphis gas station
Texas police officer dies after being injured when a tornado struck his home
If Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves didn't have your attention before, they do now