Messi vows to play 'until I can't anymore' as injury clouds World Cup preparations

Lionel Messi has declared he will continue playing football “until I can’t anymore”, even as a hamstring injury casts uncertainty over his fitness ahead of Argentina’s World Cup opener against Algeria in Kansas City on June 16.

The 38-year-old, who turns 39 this month, is preparing for what is widely expected to be his record sixth and final World Cup appearance. He was substituted during Inter Miami’s last pre-tournament match on May 24 and has been working out separately from the main Argentina squad at the team’s base camp in Kansas City this week.

“I love playing football and I’m going to do it until I can’t anymore,” Messi told Argentine journalist Joaquín ‘Pollo’ Alvarez in a YouTube interview. “I’m competitive, I like to win at everything, I don’t even let my kids win at video games sometimes. It’s just my nature and what led me to achieve everything I have.”

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni acknowledged the concern but played down alarm. “We all would have liked Messi to arrive without any problems, but that’s not the case,” Scaloni said. “Not only him, most of the players aren’t fully recovered yet.”

Messi is far from the only fitness doubt in the defending champions’ squad. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who was decisive in two penalty shootouts during Argentina’s 2022 triumph in Qatar — including the final against France — fractured the ring finger of his right hand during the Europa League final with Aston Villa. Defender Cristian Romero is recovering from a knee injury sustained in mid-April while playing for Tottenham, while right backs Nahuel Molina and Gonzalo Montiel and midfielder Leandro Paredes are all managing muscle problems.

Despite the injury list, Scaloni has retained 17 of the 26 players who lifted the trophy in Qatar, and he defended the decision firmly. “Why change them if they don’t deserve that? The players who are here today have shown us they want to be here. And secondly, their level hasn’t dropped,” he said.

Argentina are chasing history on two fronts. A second consecutive World Cup title would make them the first nation to win back-to-back tournaments since Brazil in 1958 and 1962. It would also add further weight to the argument — already widely held — that Messi is the greatest player the sport has produced.

After Algeria, Argentina face Austria on June 22 and Jordan on June 27 in Arlington, Texas, in Group J of the 2026 tournament, which is co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.