Without Messi but in champion status. What to expect from Argentina at the 2026 World Cup?

At the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar, the Argentina national team, 36 years after the big victory at the 1986 World Cup, and the outstanding Diego Maradona’s team finally regained the title of the strongest football team on the planet. This time the “white-blues” were led to victory by Lionel Messi, who was actually the last chance of this World Cup to join the squad of footballers who have the “golds” of the world championship in their assets.

What would life be without Lionel Messi? Fans of the Argentina national team woke up to this question the day after the stormy championship celebration. The “blue and whites” will have to answer this four years later at the 2026 World Cup, which will be held on the grounds of the USA, Mexico and Canada. The best player of the 2022 World Cup said that even before the final match of the Qatar World Cup against France, he did not see the opportunity to play in the tournament of the strongest teams on the planet in 2026.

Lionel knows he’ll be 39 in four years, and it’s hard to stay competitive at the highest level, even for geniuses at this age. And if the head coach of the Argentines, Lionel Scaloni, said that he was ready to find a place for Messi in the national team and at the 2026 World Cup, and the striker himself later gave an ambiguous interview, in which he spoke of a desire. To experience what it’s like to play as a world champion, the facts say that the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada will most likely pass without one of the two greatest Argentine footballers in history (along with Maradona).

Without the cornerstone of game concepts and the legendary Ten that has been carefully polished over the past decade and a half, the Argentina national team will have to reinvent themselves four years later to reclaim their status as the strongest team on the planet. As the White-Blues do not have a single player with the same skill and characteristics as Messi, potentially even at youth level, Scaloni’s side will have to rely more on collective play and will likely become more dependent on counter attacks. .

Given the fact that the Argentina national team, along with Messi, will leave another star offensive player by 2026 – Angel Di Maria, who will celebrate his 35th birthday next February, the Scaloni team will most likely have to withdraw from the plan altogether. the game is on three forwards. Instead, “white-blue” will clearly come to the classic 4-4-2, which the team has repeatedly and successfully used in a number of fights, including important ones, under the current head coach.

Given the possible change in the playing scheme from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 in the Argentina national team, an official replacement of Messi will have to be one of the midfielders. Maybe we’ll talk about Giovanni Lo Celso, who missed the tournament in Qatar due to a hip injury. A football player with such traits could benefit the White-Blues as it would free up Rodrigo De Paul and Alexis McAllister for more creative and active work on the flanks.

At the front, Argentina can count on an offensive duo made up of Julián Alvarez, the secret hero of the 2022 World Cup, and Lautaro Martinez, the loser of the Qatar World Cup. Secondly, although Qatar failed to score with effective action in six matches of the World Cup, he remains one of the most dangerous and prolific strikers of our time, and as such Martinez will certainly come in handy in future battles.

Alongside Atlético Madrid’s talented and fast-footed winger Angel Correa, the Argentines could try to keep the offensive trio in a 4-3-3 play scheme by shifting Julian Alvarez to the wing, which wouldn’t be unusual for us. secondly, due to performing similar duties for Josep Guardiola at Manchester City.

In fact, the main problems and questions of the Argentina national team for the 2026 World Cup will arise precisely in relation to the offensive line. Defensively, Lionel Scaloni should suffer a lot less headaches in the next qualifying round, as the only key player who will probably not be able to play at the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada due to his age is Nicholas Otamendi, 34, a Benfica centerback and one of the Blue and Whites coaching favourites.

For the latter, the Argentine national team already has a worthy replacement – 24-year-old Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez, with 15 games behind him in a blue and white jersey, and, according to many, having knocked Otamendi long ago, special devotion from Scaloni to the former veteran basic stuff though.

With other key figures in the defense of the Argentina national team, it is quite possible to qualify for the 2026 World Cup and then try to defend there the title of the strongest team on the planet. On the right, 24-year-old Nahuel Molina of Atlético Madrid played for Qatar, on the left was Nicholas Tagliafico, 30, from Lyon, and in the centre, Otamendi’s partner was mostly 24-year-old Christian Romero from Tottenham. “. In terms of age, each of them can qualify for a place in the base of the Argentina national team in four years. The same is true of 30-year-old Aston, who became one of the heroes of the Blue and Whites in Qatar with two penalty shootouts in the play-offs (against the Netherlands and France). The same goes for Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

There are no prerequisites for the Argentine Football Federation to leave with Lionel Scaloni, who has coached the Blue and Whites since 2018. A fairly young specialist (Scaloni is now only 44 years old) has worked with the team for four years, achieving incredible things and winning everything he can. In addition, Lionel showed flexibility in his work during the 2022 World Cup, but the start of the World Cup was shocking to his wards, to say the least – the defeat of Saudi Arabia (1:2) .. .

Scaloni’s current contract with the Argentine Football Federation runs until the end of 2026, which means that the national team will go to the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada under the supervision of this special expert. Before this tournament, something must have been completely unpredictable for Argentina to replace the head coach, who now has to reform the team and find an answer to the key question – is there life after Lionel Messi? ..

The PS Argentina national team will play their first match on the way to the 2026 World Cup in March 2023 – this is the date when the qualifying tournament for the new World Cup in the CONMEBOL region (South America) is scheduled to begin.

Estimated composition of the Argentina national team for the 2026 World CupStory: Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Christian Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Nicholas Tagliafico; Enzo Fernandez, Giovanni Lo Celso, Rodrigo de Paul, Alexis McAllister; Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez.