{"id":34928,"date":"2026-05-29T00:05:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T00:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/lionel-messi-joins-argentinas-world-cup-squad-after-coach-eases-injury-concerns\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T00:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T00:05:26","slug":"lionel-messi-joins-argentinas-world-cup-squad-after-coach-eases-injury-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/lionel-messi-joins-argentinas-world-cup-squad-after-coach-eases-injury-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi joins Argentina&#8217;s World Cup squad after coach eases injury concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>BUENOS AIRES (AP) \u2014 Argentina coach amid worrisome injuries <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Lionel Scaloni<\/span> Most of the current world champions, including captains, <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">lionel messi<\/span>becomes a member of a team aiming to win the tournament for the second consecutive time. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">2026 world cup<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The soon-to-be 39-year-old Messi is at the top of the 26-man World Cup squad announced by the Argentine Football Association on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Seventeen of the players called up were part of the team that won the final against France in Qatar four years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Several of these players were in doubt due to injuries of varying severity as FIFA approached the June 1 deadline set to finalize World Cup squads. Among them was Messi himself, who is suffering from an illness. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">muscle fatigue<\/span> And he missed last Sunday&#8217;s game against Inter Miami due to a strained left hamstring.<\/p>\n<p>The club officially stated that his recovery time would depend on &#8220;his clinical and functional progress&#8221;. This will be Messi&#8217;s sixth World Cup appearance, having previously played in Germany in 2006, South Africa in 2010, Brazil in 2015, Russia in 2018, and Qatar in 2022.<\/p>\n<h2>Nominated by goalkeeper Martinez<\/h2>\n<p>Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who broke his right ring finger in last week&#8217;s Europa League final when Aston Villa beat Freiburg, was also confirmed injured.<\/p>\n<p>Scaloni&#8217;s team also includes defender Cristian Romero, who is recovering from a right knee collateral ligament sprain sustained in mid-April while playing for Tottenham, and full-backs Nahuel Molina and Gonzalo Montiel, who scored the decisive penalty in the 2002 World Cup game against France, who are both recovering from muscular injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Argentina, who were also world champions in 1978 and 1986, will make their debut against Algeria on June 16 in Group J, which also includes Austria and Jordan.<\/p>\n<p>The team will travel to its World Cup home base in Kansas City on Saturday, where it will play friendlies against Honduras and Iceland before the tournament begins.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Argentina representative:<\/p>\n<p>Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Geronimo Lulli (Olympique de Marseille), Juan Musso (Atletico Madrid).<\/p>\n<p>Defenders: Gonzalo Montiel (Riber Plate), Nahuel Molina (Atletico Madrid), Lisandro Martinez (Manchester United), Nicolas Otamendi (Benfica), Leonardo Balerdi (Olympique Marseille), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Nicolas Tagliafico (Olympique Lyon), Facundo Medina (Olympique Marseille).<\/p>\n<p>Midfielders: Giovani Lo Celso (Betis), Leandro Paredes (Boca Juniors), Rodrigo de Paul (Inter Miami), Equ\u00e9quiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Enzo Fernandes (Chelsea), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Valentin Barco (RC Strasbourg Alsace).<\/p>\n<p>Forwards: Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Nicol\u00e1s Gonz\u00e1lez (Atletico Madrid), Giuliano Simeone (Atletico Madrid), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan), Jose Manuel L\u00f3pez (Palmeiras), Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Almada (Lyon), Nico Paz (Como).<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP World Cup coverage: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/lionel-messi-argentina-world-cup-2006-38d10d03a401e6e2ac1e1ead8857ceab\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BUENOS AIRES (AP) \u2014 Argentina coach amid worrisome injuries Lionel Scaloni Most of the current world champions, including captains, lionel messibecomes a member of a team aiming to win the tournament for the second consecutive time. 2026 world cup. The soon-to-be 39-year-old Messi is at the top of the 26-man World Cup squad announced by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lionel Messi joins Argentina&#039;s World Cup squad after coach eases injury concerns - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/lionel-messi-joins-argentinas-world-cup-squad-after-coach-eases-injury-concerns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lionel Messi joins Argentina&#039;s World Cup squad after coach eases injury concerns - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BUENOS AIRES (AP) \u2014 Argentina coach amid worrisome injuries Lionel Scaloni Most of the current world champions, including captains, lionel messibecomes a member of a team aiming to win the tournament for the second consecutive time. 2026 world cup. 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