ANDhe captain of the Argentine soccer team, Lionel Messiaffirmed this Tuesday that It is not in his plans to participate in the next edition of the World Cupwhich will be held in Mexico, the United States and Canada in 2026.
“I think not. This was my last World Cup. I’ll see how things gobut in principle no, I won’t go to the next World Cup”, assured the Argentine star in a interview with the Chinese sports media Titan Sports.
Leo played his fifth World Cup in Qatar and it was proclaimed champion with Argentina. He had previously participated in the editions of 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 without being able to conquer any of them: the closest he had been was in 2014 when he played the final with the Albiceleste and lost it against Germany.
In the conversation held in the official account of the sports magazine In the Chinese short video application Kuaishou, the recent signing from Inter Miami answered current questions of interest to the Chinese fans, of whom he said: “They’ve always been good to us.
Guardiola is the best coach in the world
Messi declared that he could see the Champions League final won by Manchester City despite the time difference in the Asian giant, and stated that Pep Guardiola, with whom he maintains “frequent contact”after the continental title has shown that “He is the best coach in the world.” A position that Messi does not aspire to in the future, although he left a door open by emphasizing that “it is not clear” if his thoughts will not change.
Relationship with Barcelona
He Albiceleste striker He also wanted to highlight his “close relationship” with Barcelona, although he said that for him “It is rare to see” that without being present they shout his name, while also considering it “something beautiful”.
Messi is in China with the Argentine team, current world champion, where he will play his last two friendlies before the qualifying heats for the United States, Mexico and Canada World Cup in view of Australia in Peking, next Thursday, and in front of Indonesia in Jakarta on the 19th.
The duel of the Albiceleste against the ‘Socceroos’ will be the reissue of the confrontation they had on December 3 at the Ahmad bin Ali stadium in Al-Rayyan in the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, in which Lionel Scaloni’s team won 2-1 with goals from Messi and Julin Álvarez, and with many difficulties.
