Messi felt the back of his left leg, and the entire media tribune in Lusail held its breath. The image will be familiar to anyone watching Argentina this summer: the moment of doubt, the pause, and then — inevitably — something that makes you forget you were ever worried.
This time it's a hamstring overload. He's 38 years old, turning 39 during the tournament. The concern is legitimate, not theatrical.
But context matters. In 2022, Messi played every single minute of Argentina's World Cup campaign after recovering from an Achilles injury in the lead-up. He scored seven goals, made three assists, won five player-of-the-match awards and his second Golden Ball. He is the only player to have scored in every knockout round match in a single edition. No one since 1966 had a goal and an assist in four different World Cup matches. Those aren't soft numbers.
Scaloni's real test this summer
"Messi will be substituted when Messi wants," Lionel Scaloni said back in Doha. That philosophy worked brilliantly in Qatar, where Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister and Leandro Paredes did the off-the-ball heavy lifting so Messi didn't have to. The architecture of "La Scaloneta" was built around protecting him while unlocking him — and 17 members of that World Cup-winning squad will be in the USA this summer.
The question isn't whether the system still works. It's whether Scaloni has the nerve to manage Messi's minutes properly against the heat and density of a summer tournament. Javier Mascherano framed it simply: "He has to be comfortable on the pitch. He's comfortable when things are working in the right way." That's the brief.
His club form offers no reason for pessimism. Messi went into MLS's World Cup break on 13 goals and seven assists — top scorer in the South American qualifiers with eight goals — and became the only player in league history to win back-to-back MVP awards. He didn't play a third of Inter Miami's games. The efficiency is almost offensive.
What's changed since Barcelona
Something shifted in Messi at the 2022 World Cup that goes beyond the trophy. For most of his career he was football's most celebrated introvert — Maradona himself once said he lacked personality. In Qatar, he argued with referees. He publicly confronted Wout Weghorst. He led a dressing room rather than just occupying it. Winning the 2021 Copa ended Argentina's 28-year drought and rewired his relationship with the fanbase — before that, Maradona was God and Messi was merely great. By Doha, fans were singing of Maradona blessing Messi from above.
In the country where he won the 2024 Copa América and where roughly a quarter of the 200,000-plus Argentines living in the USA are based in Miami, Messi may be playing in the most comfortable environment of his post-Barcelona life. Jorge Valdano, who won it all with Argentina in 1986, put it plainly: "Argentina has achieved the best thing a national team can achieve: being a team. It's a team with a very clear leadership, that of the coach and Leo Messi, and players who haven't lost their hunger."
Argentina open against Algeria. If the hamstring holds, the odds against them doing this again deserve a second look. If it doesn't, no system — however well-designed — covers that absence.
