Messi's absence is an opportunity for coach Scaloni to find new solutions for Argentina's attack. Photo: Reuters
At 6:30 a.m. on March 22 (Vietnam time), Argentina will meet host Uruguay in the 13th round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America.
Messi is more important
South America is considered the "easiest" qualifying round for the big teams, when FIFA increased the size of the World Cup from 32 teams to 48. Specifically, there are 6 official tickets granted to the region with only 10 teams, and even the 7th ranked team also has a ticket to the play-off.
After 12 rounds, Argentina has 25 points, 12 points more than Bolivia - the team ranked 7th - even if Argentina loses all 6 remaining rounds, Bolivia (13 points) or Venezuela (12 points) will find it difficult to catch up.
This complacency has been evident in the Argentine team since September 2024, when they were held to draws by Venezuela and then lost to Paraguay. However, despite having stood still and "waited" for their opponents many times, Argentina is still sitting comfortably at the top of the table. They are 5 points ahead of second-place Uruguay and have almost secured a ticket to the 2026 World Cup early.
In the times Argentina stumbled mentioned above, Messi was present. But once the whole team was complacent, Messi was also... helpless. In general, the remaining matches in the World Cup qualifiers were no different in value from friendly matches for the Argentina team. Therefore, although Messi's injury was determined to be "quite minor", the Argentina coaching staff agreed to let him stay home to ensure his safety.
Opportunities for young people
Messi is not the only Argentine superstar absent due to injury. Lautaro Martinez also withdrew at the last minute. Scaloni's "magical trio" attack is now down to only Julian Alvarez. But that is not necessarily a negative thing for the Argentine team.
The trio Messi - Alvarez - Martinez have been together since the 2022 World Cup. They won the 2024 Copa America and continued to shine together in most of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
So, this is the right time for coach Lionel Scaloni to refresh the squad. Messi is about to turn 38 years old, so whether he can ensure his fitness to play at the 2026 World Cup is still a question mark. Remember that Messi has not played at high intensity for the past 2 years.
Who did coach Scaloni choose to replace Messi and Martinez? In this training session, he called up 4 young faces: Nico Paz, Giuliano Simeone (son of coach Diego Simeone), Benjamin Dominguez and Santiago Castro. Two of them are new players (Dominguez and Castro), while Paz and Simeone have only played for the national team once.
During his 7 years leading the Argentina team, coach Scaloni showed that he was very good with young players, especially when he boldly changed the aging squad. At the 2022 World Cup, Mr. Scaloni gave Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez, who were very young at that time, the starting lineup after the defeat against Saudi Arabia.
That timely change is considered to have created a turning point for the Argentina team in Qatar. Many other players also emerged under coach Scaloni such as Romero, Molina, Alvarez... Most of them shined at the age of 21 - 22.
Messi cannot play well forever. And on the way to the 2026 World Cup, coach Scaloni and his colleagues should consider the "no Messi" option.
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