Argentina's World Cup Squad: A Reunion with Challenges Ahead

Argentina have landed in Kansas City with a squad that feels more like a reunion than a reboot. Three-and-a-half years on from Qatar, Lionel Scaloni has brought back the band that conquered the world.

Seventeen of his 26 players were in that 2022 World Cup squad. Ten of the XI who started the final against France could have been out there again on Tuesday against Algeria at Arrowhead Stadium, were it not for minor injuries to Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Tagliafico and Nahuel Molina. Only Angel Di Maria, now retired from international duty after bowing out as Player of the Match in the 2024 Copa America final, is missing from that original core.

This is continuity at a level few national teams even attempt. Sixteen members of this group were also part of the 2021 Copa America triumph, Scaloni’s first trophy. Brazil, by comparison, have retained just 11 players from their squad five years ago, three of them goalkeepers. England, from their Euro 2021 run, are down to nine.

Argentina, though, have chosen familiarity. And now they have to live with what comes next: time.

A golden core, greying at the edges

Nine players in this squad are the wrong side of 30. Not fringe names, either. Emiliano Martinez. Rodrigo De Paul. Nicolas Otamendi. And, of course, Lionel Messi, who will turn 39 during what will be his record sixth World Cup.

At the other end, the future is barely represented. Only three players are under 25: Giuliano Simeone, Valentin Barco and Nico Paz. The likes of Franco Mastantuono and Alejandro Garnacho were left at home, a clear message that Scaloni is not ready to rip up the script that has delivered three straight major titles.

Age is only part of the story. The miles in those legs might be the bigger issue.

The last three seasons have been a grind. The 2024 Copa America ran straight into club campaigns, and 11 of Scaloni’s players then went on to the Club World Cup last summer. For some, the calendar has barely offered a pause.

Since the start of the 2024-25 season, Enzo Fernandez and Julian Alvarez have each played 121 games for club and country. One hundred and twenty-one. Alvarez limped through the final weeks of Atletico Madrid’s season with an ankle problem. Fernandez, at 25, still looks in peak condition, but the sheer volume of football he has played will test even the strongest frame.

Alexis Mac Allister is already showing what that kind of load can do.

Mac Allister’s warning sign

The Liverpool midfielder has not been to the Club World Cup, yet he has still racked up 119 appearances for club and country across the past two seasons. He is expected to start against Algeria, but his form over the last nine months in the Premier League has raised serious doubts.

During Liverpool’s defeat to Manchester City in February, former winger Jermaine Pennant voiced what many at Anfield had been thinking. Speaking to TalkSport after criticising Mac Allister on social media, he said: “I was watching the game and I was frustrated and I tweeted… I was angry. It was constructive angry… I touched on that, ‘after your injury in pre-season, you’ve come back a shadow of what you are; it seems like your legs have gone’. In that [City] game, he was literally a bystander, he didn’t really get into it at all and that’s what I touched on, it was an observation.”

The description could double as a cautionary tale for Scaloni. Trust the old guard, and you get cohesion, shared scars, players who know exactly what it takes to survive tournament football. Push them too far, and those same legs can suddenly look heavy, the pressing half a yard late, the passing a beat slow.

For now, Scaloni is doubling down on loyalty.

Seven of the starters from the Lusail final are set to line up again against Algeria. Cristian Romero, Otamendi, Fernandez, De Paul, Mac Allister and Messi are all expected to reprise their roles. Lautaro Martinez, Golden Boot winner at the 2024 Copa America, will step in for Alvarez up front.

This is a team that knows how to win. The question is whether it can still outrun, outfight and outlast the rest of the world.

Barco left watching, Lisandro steps wide

Scaloni’s conservatism shows most clearly at left-back.

With Tagliafico unavailable, the obvious choice would be Valentin Barco. The Strasbourg left-sider, widely expected to join Chelsea this summer, has been one of the bright sparks in recent friendlies. He has scored in two of Argentina’s last three games, playing slightly higher up the pitch, but left-back remains his natural position. At 21, he offers pace, energy and a burst of dynamism that this ageing side could badly use down the flank.

Instead, Scaloni will turn to Lisandro Martinez.

The Manchester United defender is a natural centre-back, more secure defensively than Barco, and tasked with handling Algeria’s veteran talisman Riyad Mahrez. It is a pragmatic move: trust the defender who relishes one-on-one duels, accept that the attacking thrust down that side will be limited.

On the opposite flank, youth will get a chance, but not in its usual form. Giuliano Simeone is set to start at right-back, an unfamiliar role for the forward. With Molina and Gonzalo Montiel still building fitness after recent injuries, Simeone will deputise until at least one of them can play more than a cameo.

It is a patchwork solution, not a grand redesign. Scaloni is tinkering, not tearing up the blueprint.

The Paz dilemma

The real crossroads lies in midfield, and it has a name: Nico Paz.

At 21, Paz has lit up Serie A with Como over the past two seasons. Under the guidance of Cesc Fabregas, he scored 13 goals and provided seven assists this season, driving a newly promoted side to a fourth-place finish and Champions League qualification. The league named him Best Midfielder, and Real Madrid are widely expected to trigger the buy-back clause in his contract this summer.

He plays with a different rhythm. Head up, willing to risk the vertical pass, happy to take the ball under pressure and break lines with one touch. His game stands in sharp contrast to the more laboured displays Mac Allister has produced lately.

Paz will likely start this World Cup on the bench, in part because of a minor knee issue he has been managing. Even so, his presence changes the conversation around this Argentina side. He represents the next step, the injection of daring that can refresh a midfield that has carried the load for too long.

Scaloni has been here before. In Qatar, he made the bold call to throw a then-21-year-old Enzo Fernandez into the starting XI midway through the group stage. The move transformed Argentina’s tournament and helped carry them to the title.

He may need a similar moment of courage this time.

A brutal path and one last dance

The route to glory is anything but gentle.

If Argentina top Group J ahead of Algeria, Austria and Jordan, they will face the runners-up from Group H in the round of 32 – potentially Spain, more likely Uruguay. Win that, and a winnable last-16 tie against the runners-up from Group D (currently Australia) or Group G (likely one of Belgium, Egypt or Iran) should follow.

From the quarter-finals, the romance and the reality collide. Seedings point towards a meeting with Portugal in the last eight, a showdown between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at what is almost certainly their final World Cup.

By then, Scaloni will have no room for sentiment. He will need to know, not guess, his best XI. He will need to decide how many of his old warriors can still go every three days, and how many of his young guns he trusts when the margins tighten.

Argentina arrived in Kansas City with the same faces, the same songs, the same brotherhood that has carried them through the past five years. The bond is unquestioned. The medals are in the cabinet.

Now comes the hardest part for a champion coach: choosing the moment to let the next generation share the weight of Messi’s last ride.