Scaloni hoping Messi will continue with Argentina

The World Cup win filled Argentina with joy, but also with anguish for many fans, who fear that the Qatar 2022 final against France will be Lionel Messi’s last World Cup match.

The Albiceleste captain warned before the decisive match against the French side: “The final is my last World Cup game. It’s many years to the next one and I don’t think I’ll get to it. To finish like this, it’s the best way,” he told Olé. As soon as he lifted the coveted World Cup he made it clear that, for the moment, he would continue with the national team: “I love football, what I do. I enjoy being with the national team, the group, I want to play a few more games being world champion”.

The 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 keep playing, the 10 shirt will always be ready for Lionel,” he said after winning the final in Qatar. And this week, he told TN: “Having him 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, we’ll see, but we’ll always have that hope”.

Future in Messi’s hands

Only Messi knows what the future holds. It will be up to him to decide when to retire, but if he extends his international career until the 2024 Copa América he will have another challenge ahead of him, perhaps the last great challenge of his career.

In 2023, Messi and his team-mates will have the chance to extend the legend and complete the treble. Winning the Copa América (2021), World Cup (2022) and Copa América (2024) would place the Albiceleste in the history books in 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 perhaps it will serve as motivation for Messi to extend his career with the Albiceleste and attempt another challenge.

The legend of Messi, who left Qatar not only with the World Cup in his hands, but also with a number of individual records, will only continue to grow. The Albiceleste captain beat the record set by Germany’s Lothar Matthäus and with 26 appearances is now the player with the most games played in the history of World Cups. He is also the youngest player to participate in five World Cups, the first to provide assists in five World Cups and the first Argentinian to score in four (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 World Cups.