Messi at 38. Álvarez and Fernández leading the next generation. Can Scaloni's Argentina do what only Brazil has ever done — defend the World Cup?
Argentina arrive at the 2026 World Cup as defending champions, carrying a burden that history suggests is almost impossible to handle. No team has won back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962 — and the structural reasons for that are significant. Key players age. Tactical blueprints are studied and countered. The hunger that drives a team through a seven-match tournament is harder to manufacture when you are already at the top. And yet, Argentina under Lionel Scaloni have built something that goes beyond any individual player's presence — a collective identity that may prove more durable than the cycle of decline that claims most defending champions.
Lionel Messi will turn 39 during the 2026 World Cup. The question of his involvement — whether he plays, how many minutes he receives, what his role is when he does play — will dominate the pre-tournament narrative. Physically, Messi at 38 is not the same player who carried Argentina to glory in Qatar. His acceleration has diminished. His ability to cover ground defensively has reduced. But his football intelligence, his passing, his dead-ball delivery, and his capacity to produce decisive moments under pressure remain extraordinary.
Scaloni's challenge is to use Messi in a way that maximizes what he can still offer while not building the team's tactical structure around him in a way that becomes a weakness. The most likely approach is Messi as an impact player — starting some matches, coming off the bench in others — with the burden of carrying the team distributed across the squad in a way that 2022 never required because Messi was available and performing at a different level.
The most important development in Argentine football since Qatar 2022 has been the emergence of the post-Messi generation as a genuine force. Julián Álvarez, whose performances in the 2022 World Cup — particularly his two goals against Croatia in the semifinal — announced him as a player of world-class quality, has continued his development at Atlético Madrid. At 26, he is the striker around whom Argentina's 2026 attack will be built.
Enzo Fernández won the 2022 Young Player of the Tournament award and has gone on to establish himself as one of the top midfielders in the Premier League at Chelsea. His combination of defensive work rate, passing quality, and ability to drive forward gives Argentina a central midfielder who can function effectively even without Messi's creativity behind him. The spine of the 2026 team — Martínez in goal, a settled back four, Fernández in midfield, Álvarez leading the attack — does not depend on Messi to function.
Argentina's 2022 World Cup triumph was built on tactical flexibility: Scaloni moved between a 4-3-3, a 4-4-2 diamond, and a 5-3-2 depending on the opponent, always maintaining the defensive organization that made Argentina so difficult to break down. The team's defensive record at Qatar 2022 — three goals conceded in regular time across seven matches — was the foundation of everything.
In 2026, the system will likely evolve to accommodate the changed squad dynamic. With Messi's role reduced, the team needs players in midfield who can create as well as control. Mac Allister at Liverpool provides the technical quality and positional intelligence that Argentina's system demands. De Paul's energy and pressing intensity give the midfield its competitive edge. The tactical structure is robust enough to adapt.
The statistics on defending World Cup titles are stark. Italy won in 1934 and 1938, but that tournament was very different in format and political context. Brazil won in 1958 and 1962. Since the modern era began, no defending champion has gone beyond the quarterfinals in the following tournament — France were eliminated in the 2002 group stage, Italy went in the round of 16 in 2010, Spain lost to the Netherlands 5-1 in 2014.
Argentina's best defence against this pattern is that their 2022 success was genuinely collective, not built on a peak that was always going to decline. Their defensive structure, their pressing organization, and their tactical adaptability are skills that do not age in the way that individual brilliance does. If any defending champion is positioned to break the pattern, it is this Argentina side under Scaloni.