Can Lionel Messi really make it to the 2026 World Cup? Argentina icon entering career end-game as injuries begin to plague Inter Miami superstar

Messi approached the 2022 World Cup as if it would be his last. He was 35 years of age at the time and no longer enjoying his club football at Paris Saint-Germain.

Things were different with Argentina, though. He loved joining up with Lionel Scaloni's squad, meaning he actually looked forward to international breaks, which offered welcome respite from the toxic atmosphere at Parc des Princes.

The 2021 Copa America victory had also changed everything. After more than a decade of devastating defeats, Messi had finally got his hands on a major international honour. A weight was actually lifted from his shoulders as he dropped to his knees at the Maracana.

The pressure to emulate Maradona by leading his country to the ultimate glory remained, though, and when Argentina lost their opening World Cup group game to Saudi Arabia, in one of the biggest shocks in football history, the critics sharpened their knives.

However, those that came to bury Messi instead ended up praising him. After effectively keeping Argentina in the competition with his stunning strike against Mexico on matchday two, Messi went on to produce the most sensational string of performances seen in the knockout rounds since Maradona in 1986, as he finally got his hands on the game's most prestigious prize.

As Messi kicked a ball around with his kids on a tinsel-covered pitch long after the full-time whistle had blown in Lusail, it felt like the perfect time for him to bow out. He had just completed football and ended the GOAT debate in the most emphatic fashion possible. There were no more worlds to conquer, nothing left for him to win - or prove.

Yet he decided to continue. Simply because he was now having so much fun. "I love football, and what I do," he explained. "I enjoy being part of the national team, the group. I would like to enjoy a couple more matches as a world champion."

He'd earned that right, in fairness, but "a couple more matches" turned into five friendlies, five World Cup qualifiers and an entire Copa America campaign. By the end of the latter, there were already legitimate questions over whether Messi had made the mistake of going on too long.

Messi had made history by leading Argentina to a second consecutive Copa success, and a third major international tournament triumph, but it was clear during the 2024 tournament in the United States that the enormous physical strain that comes with competing at the highest level for nearly two decades were beginning to take their toll.

After seven goals and three assists in Qatar, Messi managed only one of each in the U.S. last summer, and ended up in tears on the bench after being forced off midway through the second half of the final with ankle ligament damage.

Despite the happy ending, with Lautaro Martinez netting an extra-time winner for Argentina, Messi making a record-breaking sixth appearance at a World Cup finals appeared an awful long way away at that point. Nine months on, though, it looks even more unlikely.

Messi has already missed four Argentina games in the past year through injury. He's going to miss another two during the current international break, having been ruled out of the massive double-header against Uruguay and Brazil with "discomfort in his adductor region".

What's extremely perturbing is that this injury has occurred at a time when Inter Miami have been carefully managing his workload. Messi's played 90 minutes just three times since the start of the 2025 season and was also rested for three consecutive games earlier this month as coach Javier Mascherano looks to protect the reigning MLS MVP as much as humanly possible without affecting the team's competitiveness.

"What if we don't give him a certain rest and he ends up injured?" Mascherano asked on March 6. "We don't want him to be out for a month." The fact that such a significant spell on the sidelines is now a distinct possibility is a real cause for concern, for both his club and his country.

Messi's mere presence in Miami is obviously of colossal significance, and not only for the franchise but also the entire league. Fans go to games just to see him play - and when he doesn't, some clubs feel compelled to offer compensation. However, he's not just a marketing phenomenon. He remains just as valuable to Inter Miami as a player.

"Messi is the soul of this team," Mascherano admitted last month. "He is like a kid playing football and he doesn't want to lose. For us, it's a big, big advantage to have him because it's not just about what he does on the pitch. It's what he translates to his team-mates and all that he does with his 37 years of experience.

"He's not just playing in attack either, he helps us in defence and by running the whole midfield. He's magnificent."

It's hardly surprising, then, that Miami co-owner Jorge Jorge Mas is determined to see Messi extend a contract that expires in December - particularly as the franchise will be moving into a new stadium next year.

Of course, Barcelona are also likely to be returning to a revamped Camp Nou in 2026, and there have been rumours in recent days that club president Joan Laporta wants to bring Messi back for the grand re-opening, which would obviously represent one of the great footballing fairy-tale endings.

The reality, though, is that we don't yet know how much Messi will have left to offer by the end of the current campaign, and it's telling that the man himself is remaining coy on his prospects of featuring at the 2026 World Cup.

"I didn't set any date or deadline," the Argentina captain said after hitting a hat-trick against Bolivia last October. "I'm just enjoying all this. I am more emotional than ever and taking all the love from the people because I know these can be my last games.

"It's a joy to be present and appreciate this moment. Being surrounded by younger team-mates, given my age, makes me feel like a kid again. I find myself doing silly things because I feel so comfortable, so, as long as I maintain that feeling and can continue contributing to the team, I intend to be here enjoying [playing for the national team]."

For us neutrals, it would obviously be wonderful to bear witness to his genius one final time on the game's grandest stage, but only if he is fit to do so. The best and smartest move Messi could have made was probably to have retired after Qatar - or at least after last year's Copa - because playing in the 2026 World Cup means he runs the risk of embarrassing himself as Ronaldo has at the past two major international tournaments.

In that sense, it's been encouraging to hear Messi talk about quitting the moment he feels he's become more of a hindrance than a help to team-mates that he absolutely adores. He very clearly knows himself that his end-game has already begun. The only issue is that his body could easily give up before he wants to, making plans and predictions utterly futile at this point.

Messi may be the greatest decision-maker the game has ever seen, but this last one might well be taken for him.