Argentina at the 2026 Football World Championship: Roster, Forecast, and Statistics

For the first time in 36 years, Argentina will be defending their World Cup title. However, their attempts to confirm their status as the best in the world have been unsuccessful for 15 consecutive tournaments. Will Lionel Messi and his team be able to break this 60-year trend?

Lionel Scaloni has called up 16 players from the championship squad (almost 70%). Betting on winning experience – nothing less. Let's analyze the squad and the chances of the Argentinians to lift the World Cup again in the preview before the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the USA, Mexico, and Canada.

In brief:

• Argentina are the reigning world champions. Only two teams have won the tournament twice in a row – Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962).
• The Argentina squad includes Messi, Martinez, Fernandez, Alvarez, while Dybala, Garnacho, Foyth, Acuna, and Correa are left out.
• Bookmakers rate Argentina's chances of winning the World Cup at 11%, and their chances of reaching the final at 20%.
• In the group stage of the World Cup, Argentina will play against Algeria, Austria, and Jordan.

Argentina's squad for the 2026 World Cup

Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Juan Musso (Atletico Madrid), Geronimo Rulli (Marseille).

Defenders: Nahuel Molina Lucero (Atletico Madrid), Gonzalo Montiel (River Plate), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Leonardo Balerdi (Marseille), Lisandro Martinez (Manchester United), Nicolas Otamendi (Benfica), Nicolas Tagliafico (Lyon), Facundo Medina (Lens).

Midfielders: Leandro Paredes (Boca Juniors), Giovani Lo Celso (Betis), Rodrigo De Paul (Inter Miami), Thiago Almada, Giuliano Simeone (both Atletico Madrid), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer), Nico Paz (Como), Alexis MacAllister (Liverpool), Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea), Valentin Barco (Strasbourg).

Forwards: Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Lautaro Martinez (Inter), Jose Manuel Lopez (Palmeiras), Nicolas Gonzalez (Juventus).

Head coach: Lionel Scaloni

Main Star

G.O.A.T. There is no doubt that all attention in the Argentina team will once again be focused on Lionel Messi, who is going to his sixth World Cup. For the 38-year-old footballer, the tournament in North America will be the last in his career. Leo is an unparalleled genius, with 116 goals for the national team (13 at World Cups). Three more goals in the tournament, and he will rise to the top of the list of the best scorers in World Cup history.

Main Problem of Argentina

The main problem of the Argentine team is age and experience. In all their manifestations. During the World Cup, Messi will turn 39, and much of the world champions' game is tied to the captain. The Argentine defense also looks aged with an average age of 29.8 years and 38-year-old Otamendi in the center. The experience of the 2022 championship team is both a plus and a minus. Scaloni has hardly changed the squad, and the starting eleven will almost certainly be those who played a key role in Qatar.

Young Talent

In the past club season in Italy, Como seriously surprised everyone, outperforming Milan and Juventus are in the race for the Champions League. The 21-year-old midfielder Nico Paz, who scored 12+7 in 35 Serie A matches, shone in the team from the beautiful lake. There is high competition in the national team in the midfield and attacking line, but Nico will definitely get his minutes.

Who will miss the 2026 World Cup

Several uncalled Argentine players could have adorned the tournament in North America. But they will all miss the 2026 World Cup. Paulo Dybala had a frankly weak season for Roma, Alejandro Garnacho played average at Chelsea, but was definitely not a regular player in the starting lineup, Juan Foyth was out due to injury until August, Marcos Acuna is simply not young anymore. The absence of Bournemouth's main center Marcos Senesi and Como's pivot Maximo Perrone is surprising.

Form of the Argentina national team

Qualification

Argentina qualified for the 2026 World Cup as one of the first – back in March 2025. Scaloni's team won the qualifying stage, outpacing the nearest pursuer by three victories. The average performance of the Argentines in the qualification is 1.7 goals per game with 0.6 conceded.

Recent results

Since October, Argentina has only played friendly matches. And traditionally under Scaloni – against opponents far from the top level. In the fall, the South Americans beat Venezuela (1:0), Puerto Rico (6:0) and Angola (2:0), and in March – Mauritania (2:1) and Zambia (5:0).

Preparation for the World Cup

Scaloni does not change traditions – before the World Cup, the opponents will again be teams outside the top 50 of the world ranking. The world champions will meet Honduras and Iceland.

Schedule of Argentina's matches at the 2026 World Cup

Argentina's chances of advancing from the group

Bookmakers are almost certain that the Argentine team will advance to the World Cup playoffs, assuming that Scaloni's team will leave the group with a 99% probability, and that it will do so from the first place – 74%.

Bookmakers' odds for the Argentina national team at the 2026 World Cup

Why Argentina might not win the World Cup

Firstly, due to statistics. For over 60 years, the reigning world champion has not been able to defend the title of the best team in the world. Statistics are a controversial thing, but it is impossible to ignore this fact.

But Argentina's more practical problems are not theoretical, but practical. Scaloni has only updated a third of the squad from the last tournament. And these changes almost did not affect the starting lineup. The core will still be the 38-year-old Messi, on the left in defense – the 33-year-old Tagliafico, in the center there will surely be a place for someone from the Paredes – De Paul pair. Nine people have already crossed the 30-year mark. Experience is good, but so far it looks like an attempt to win the tournament with old baggage. It is not worthRemember that in 2022 the tournament was held during the period of November-December, when players aged 28-32 were at their peak. By the end of the season, many had accumulated fatigue, and a second consecutive spike in physical form remains in doubt.

There are also questions about the preparation of the Argentinians. Before the triumphant 2022 tournament, Argentina also played against Honduras, Jamaica, and Estonia. Scaloni seems to be following the same path again. The latest friendly matches are aimed at the opportunity to test the attack, not the defense. But what will happen when Argentina faces a team that plays (in the 1/16 finals almost certainly the opponent will be Spain or Uruguay), not a team that defends for 90 minutes like Iceland, Venezuela, or Zambia?

Prediction for the Argentina national team

The state of the Argentina national team before the tournament raises questions. The squad is aging; two-thirds of the players have experience of winning the last World Cup, but in that time they have become four years older, nine people have already crossed the 30-year mark;

In the World Cups of the 21st century, the reigning world champion has only once reached the semi-final stage at the next tournament (France in Qatar). The other attempts by champions to defend their title resulted in either a fiasco (Italy not qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, France 2002, Spain 2014, and Germany 2018 being eliminated at the group stage) or an unsatisfactory result (Brazil losing in the quarter-finals). Based on this trend, we will try to bet on Argentina's progress to the semi-finals (no) at odds of 1.53*.

More predictions for all 2026 World Cup matches will be available in the tournament section starting from June 9.

*Odds are approximate, may vary in different bookmakers and are current at the time of publication

If you are interested in detailed analyses of the chances of the top national teams at the 2026 World Cup, you can also read the following articles:

• England have gone 60 years without a title. Will they succeed in 2026?
• What will Cristiano Ronaldo’s sixth World Cup be like?
• Mexico have always reached the top 8 at home World Cups. Will they continue the tradition?