The World Cup victory filled Argentina with joy, but also with anguish for many supporters.
Captain Albiceleste warned ahead of the decisive game against the France team: “The final is my last World Cup game. It’s many years before the next one and I don’t think I’ll get there. Finish like that’s the best way to do it,” he told Olé. As soon as he lifted the coveted World Cup, he made it clear that for now he would continue with the national team: “I love football, what I do. I love being with the team. national team, the group, I want to play a few more matches as world champion”.
Albiceleste coach Lionel Scaloni is not giving up hope. “Messi should have a place in the next World Cup, we want him to continue. If he wants to continue playing, the 10 shirt will always be ready for Lionel,” he said after winning the final at the Qatar. And this week he told TN: “Having it is a luxury, let’s hope it wasn’t his last World Cup. We have to keep the 10 shirt for when he decides. If he decides not to do, we will see, but we will always have this hope”.
Only Messi knows what the future holds for him. It will be up to him when to retire, but if he extends his international career until the Copa América 2024, he will have another challenge to face, perhaps the last big challenge of his career.
In 2023, Messi and his teammates will have the opportunity to extend the legend and achieve the treble. By winning the Copa América (2021), the World Cup (2022) and the Copa América (2024), the Albiceleste would enter the history of South American football. In Europe, Spain did it in 2008 (European Championship), 2010 (World Cup) and 2012 (European Championship). The challenge is extraordinary. So much so that it may serve as motivation for Messi to extend his career with the Albiceleste and try another challenge.
The legend of Messi, who left Qatar not only with the World Cup in hand, but also with many individual records, will only grow. The Albiceleste captain broke the record set by Germany’s Lothar Matthäus and, with 26 appearances, he is now the player with the most appearances in World Cup history. He is also the youngest player to appear in five World Cups, the first to provide assists in five World Cups and the first Argentine to score in four World Cups (2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022). Diego Maradona (1982, 1986 and 1994) and Gabriel Batistuta (1994, 1998 and 2002) had done so in three editions. He also surpassed Batistuta’s record as Argentina’s top scorer in the World Cup.