In the Wake of Round of 32 Chaos, Can Argentina Survive Without Lionel Messi?

MIAMI — When Argentina’s Lionel Messi won the 2022 World Cup and the Golden Ball, people said, ‘Wow, what a great international career. Now he can rest.’ When he came back two years later and won the 2024 Copa América, people said, ‘Wow, what a international great career. Now he can rest.’

Nobody is more surprised than Messi himself to be back on the international stage, rather than cozying up on the couch with a soft blanket and steaming cup of yerba mate. The world wasn’t even sure if he would play in the 2026 World Cup until manager Lionel Scaloni’s final roster came out just days before the group stage—the star forward had been reluctant to commit and likely didn’t even know if he was up for the task.

Yet now, the only thing steaming is Messi himself in the blistering Miami heat, competing in a record sixth career World Cup at 39 years old.

Sorry, not competing. Dominating. It took Messi all of 28 minutes to reclaim his place atop the Golden Boot podium, blasting his seventh of the tournament past the beloved Cabo Verde goalkeeper Vozinha to take a 1–0 lead in the round of 32 match at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Messi later took the corner kick that created Argentina’s long-awaited game-winner, a deflected header from Cristian Romero in the second period of extra time, allowing the title-holders to just sneak by with a 3–2 victory over the minnows.

Messi may reinventing what it means to be in your late 30s, but his supernatural ability to defy the physics of time does not come without worrisome sentiments about the state of the rest of the Argentina team, especially considering the challenges it faced overcoming the World Cup debutants, a nation with a population one-sixth the size of Buenos Aires.

The former Barcelona star has scored seven goals across just four matches, one of which he didn’t even start. That is seven of 11 total goals for Argentina this summer—64% of the team’s output. Messi won’t last forever in sky blue and white—no matter how much his skincare routine and ability to dice up 20-year-old defenders may suggest otherwise. Is the team too reliant on its long-held talisman? If so, what does this mean for the post-Messi era, whenever that inevitably comes? And who gets passed the torch enflamed with an entire nation’s hopes, dreams and spiritual well-being?

Can any individual Albiceleste player carry it the way Messi has—without getting burned?

Is Argentina Too Reliant on Messi?

Messi celebrating — Lionel Messi opened Argentina’s scoring against Cabo Verde. | Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images

“Today, being 39 is so different than it used to be,” Miami-based Argentinian fan Lulu tells Sports Illustrated. “He has surprised a lot of people in the last games.”

Adds Tomás, who lives in Buenos Aires: “I didn’t expect this performance, but we have to embrace it and run with it. He is our leader.”

The fans may not have expected such measures of brilliance from their aging star, but they knew he would shine nonetheless.

“Messi is a special player because he is so cerebral,” another Miami-based Argentinian fan, Lucas, says. “Everyone knew he was going to age well because he’s never depended on his speed to score or to impact the game.”

The team evidently knew this too, perhaps too comfortable relying on him at a time when it should be pursuing new sources of light.

“In the last matches, that could be the case,” Tomás says about the team’s over-reliance on Messi. “But we expect other players for the next games [to step up]. Julián Alvarez, Lautaro Martínez has to improve a little bit, to perform better, to not depend at all on Messi. We will need that.”

Lucas contends, “It’s a little overblown, but the players do look for [Messi] because they all look up to him. They were all kids when Messi went professional.”

It is undeniable that Messi’s teammates worship him. Just look at the elaborate celebration they planned for his birthday two weeks ago, or the way everyone stops in their tracks in the players’ tunnel until Messi can pass by. It’s as if these $100 million midfielders and most sought-after players are brought back to being awkward pre-teens begging Messi for a photo.

It may take Messi leaving the pitch for good before La Albiceleste can even begin to ponder how they would operate without him.

Passing the Torch in a Post-Messi Era

Nico Paz walking — Nico Paz is a rising star for Argentina. | Ezra Shaw/FIFA/Getty Images

Any mention of an Argentina team that doesn’t include Messi is immediately met with gasps. When the forward fell and his head collided with the knee cap of a Cabo Verde defender, the fans exasperatedly willed him back, chanting “Meeeee-ssi, Meeeee-ssi, Meeeee-ssi.”

Yet if the supporters were truly forced to consider a world without their No. 10, they don’t think it would be so grim.

“[Giovani] Lo Celso was so good in the last game,” Lulu says confidently about the left winger who opened Argentina’s scoring in the 3–1 win over Jordan. “In the last World Cup, Lo Celso couldn’t play, but now, he is so good, as was Lautaro Martínez and Julián Alvarez.

“Messi didn’t come in at the beginning of that game, and they scored two goals...I know that the team will not be the same because Messi is Messi. But I believe in Argentina.”

The fans have confidence in Argentina’s youth ranks, in particular. Even if none of them can reach the heights of Messi individually, they will be a formidable group collectively.

“Nico Paz, a substitute now, he has a good future,” Tomás says about the 21-year-old attacking midfielder. “There are other players that are not here in this World Cup. They are not the same level as Messi, but we will be a great team together, not depending at all on Messi’s performance.”

Lucas adds: “Nico Paz, Giuliano Simeone, Valentin Barco. The next generation is already on the bench waiting.”

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