{"id":1460,"date":"2026-05-29T08:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T08:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460"},"modified":"2026-05-29T08:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T08:03:26","slug":"lionel-messi-is-in-argentinas-world-cup-squad-as-coach-lionel-scaloni-calms-injury-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

BUENOS AIRES \u2014 Amid a worrying rash of injuries, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni sought to dispel doubts by confirming that most of the reigning world champions, including captain Lionel Messi, will be part of the squad that will seek a second consecutive title at the 2026 World Cup.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more MIAA softball tournament: Favorites, sleepers, players to watch, for Divisions 1-5<\/a><\/p>\n

Messi, about to turn 39, headlines the 26-man World Cup roster announced by the Argentine Football Association on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of those called up, 17 players were part of the team that triumphed four years ago in the final against France in Qatar.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Several of those players were in doubt due to injuries of varying severity, close to the June 1 deadline set by FIFA for finalizing World Cup squads. Among them was Messi himself, who is suffering from muscle fatigue and strain in his left hamstring, which prevented him from finishing the match with Inter Miami last Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The club has officially stated that his recovery time will depend on \u201chis clinical and functional progress.\u201d Messi will be playing in his sixth World Cup, having previously participated in Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2015, Russia 2018, and Qatar 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

Goalkeeper Emiliano Mart\u00ednez, who fractured the ring finger of his right hand during last week\u2019s Europa League final in which Aston Villa defeated Freiburg, has also been confirmed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scaloni also included defender Cristian Romero, who is recovering from a sprained collateral ligament in his right knee suffered in mid-April while playing for Tottenham, and fullbacks Nahuel Molina and Gonzalo Montiel, who scored the decisive penalty kicks in the 2002 World Cup shootout against France, both of whom are recovering from muscle injuries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more MIAA baseball tournament: Favorites, sleepers, players to watch, for Divisions 1-5<\/a><\/p>\n

Argentina, also world champions in 1978 and 1986, will debut on June 16 against Algeria in Group J, which also includes Austria and Jordan.<\/span><\/p>\n

The squad will travel on Saturday to their World Cup base in Kansas City and will play friendlies against Honduras and Iceland before the start of the tournament. The defending champions will be in Group J along with Algeria, Austria, and Jordan.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Argentina squad:<\/span><\/p>\n

Goalkeepers: Emiliano Mart\u00ednez (Aston Villa), Ger\u00f3nimo Rulli (Olympique de Marseille), Juan Musso (Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid).<\/span><\/p>\n

Defenders: Gonzalo Montiel (River Plate), Nahuel Molina (Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid), Lisandro Mart\u00ednez (Manchester United), Nicol\u00e1s Otamendi (Benfica), Leonardo Balerdi (Olympique de Marseille), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Nicol\u00e1s Tagliafico (Olympique de Lyon), Facundo Medina (Olympique de Marseille).<\/span><\/p>\n

Midfielders: Giovani Lo Celso (Betis), Leandro Paredes (Boca Jrs), Rodrigo De Paul (Inter Miami), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez (Chelsea), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Valent\u00edn Barco (RC Strasbourg Alsace).<\/span><\/p>\n

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Nicol\u00e1s Gonz\u00e1lez (Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid), Giuliano Simeone (Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid), Lautaro Mart\u00ednez (Inter Milan), Jos\u00e9 Manuel L\u00f3pez (Palmeiras), Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez (Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid), Thiago Almada (Lyon), Nico Paz (Como).<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more On Day 1, Canton girls make a strong run to first at Division 3 track championships<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Messi left his last game with Inter Miami before the MLS break for the World Cup clutching his left hamstring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\nLionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears - Boston Relocation Insider<\/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:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears - Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Messi left his last game with Inter Miami before the MLS break for the World Cup clutching his left hamstring.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T08:03:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\"},\"headline\":\"Lionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T08:03:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460\"},\"wordCount\":515,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0cac816cce10d0961af604e6d7b5a142.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460\",\"name\":\"Lionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears - Boston Relocation Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0cac816cce10d0961af604e6d7b5a142.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T08:03:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0cac816cce10d0961af604e6d7b5a142.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0cac816cce10d0961af604e6d7b5a142.avif\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":960},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=1460#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Boston Relocation Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears - Boston Relocation Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears - Boston Relocation Insider","og_description":"Messi left his last game with Inter Miami before the MLS break for the World Cup clutching his left hamstring.","og_url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460","og_site_name":"Boston Relocation Insider","article_published_time":"2026-05-29T08:03:26+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e"},"headline":"Lionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears","datePublished":"2026-05-29T08:03:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460"},"wordCount":515,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0cac816cce10d0961af604e6d7b5a142.avif","articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460","name":"Lionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears - Boston Relocation Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0cac816cce10d0961af604e6d7b5a142.avif","datePublished":"2026-05-29T08:03:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0cac816cce10d0961af604e6d7b5a142.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0cac816cce10d0961af604e6d7b5a142.avif","width":1440,"height":960},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1460#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lionel Messi is in Argentina\u2019s World Cup squad as coach Lionel Scaloni calms injury fears"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/","name":"Boston Relocation Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}