Analysis— 5 min read
No storyline at this summer's World Cup comes close to matching the weight of what Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are carrying into North America. Both will make history simply by walking onto the pitch — the first players ever to compete at six different World Cup tournaments.
Messi turns 39 during the group stage. He arrives as a world champion, having ended the one chapter his career lacked when Argentina beat France on penalties in Qatar in 2022. Since then, he has settled into life at Inter Miami, managing his body carefully in MLS and continuing to represent Argentina when it matters. He has not confirmed this will be his final tournament. He does not need to. Everything points one way.
Argentina begin their title defence against Algeria in Kansas City on June 16, before games against Austria and Jordan. The squad around Messi remains strong — Lautaro Martinez has been prolific, Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister control the midfield, and the defensive structure conceded just twice in their final eight qualifiers.
Ronaldo's story carries a different kind of weight. The World Cup remains the one major trophy that has eluded him across a career that has conquered almost everything else. At 41, he is still scoring prolifically for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia and made no secret of his determination to play one more time on the grandest stage. Portugal begin against what should be a winnable group, with Roberto Martinez retaining Ronaldo as the focal point of the attack.
For nearly two decades, the argument over who is the greatest has defined football. This summer, in the stadiums of the United States, it will be answered for the last time by both of them playing simultaneously — and quite possibly against each other in the quarter-finals.