Playing the 2026 World Cup again? Messi is expected by everyone, and Ronaldo is not leaving

"I'm going to stay here until me, the coach and the football association think I need to leave." At the pre-match press conference of the European preliminaries, Ronaldo said. Approaching the 200-game milestone, he clearly does not want to quit the national team, and is even "hinting" that he wants to play in the 2026 World Cup. However, compared to Messi, Ronaldo may not be so "popular".

2022 "The Last Dance": Meet at the top

Last year's World Cup, the most hyped topic in the media was the last dance of Messi and Ronaldo. Both are participating in the World Cup for the fifth time, one is 35 years old, the other is 37 years old, and after four years, they are not confused, and it is generally believed that they will not fight again.

What's more interesting is that Argentina and Portugal are in different halves in the knockout round, which means that if Messi and Ronaldo want to meet in the World Cup for the first time, there is only one possibility: meet in the final and meet at the top! If so, it will undoubtedly be the best ending of the last dance, and it will definitely cause a sensation in world football.

However, Messi arrived as promised and led Argentina to the final, but he did not wait for Cristiano Ronaldo, because Portugal lost to Morocco and stopped the quarterfinals early!

So, Ronaldo's "last dance" ended with tears spilling into the player tunnel, with endless regrets. Messi's "last dance" is with glory and smile, holding the Hercules Cup and crowning the king of the ball.

At this point, it is generally believed that the peerless double pride dispute has been concluded: Messi wins, he is GOAT!

From "affirmation" to "principle", Messi plays again?

It is said that after winning the World Cup, Messi has completed the Grand Slam, and there are no regrets in his career, even if he does not immediately withdraw from the national team, there is no need to continue to play in the competition, otherwise the ending may not be as perfect as it is now.

And in October last year, Messi did say categorically in an interview with ESPN, "The Qatar World Cup will definitely be my last World Cup!" ”

But in an exclusive interview with Sports Weekly in Beijing, Messi's tone changed. "I said once that I would not play in the next World Cup, which is my last. Although we still have to see what happens, in principle I will not play in the next World Cup. ”

From "affirmation" to "principle", Messi is no longer so determined, no longer so absolute, and deliberately emphasizes "see what happens".

In addition, Messi also chose to play in the United States, one of the hosts of the 2026 World Cup, firstly, to adapt to the environment in advance, and secondly, to reduce physical consumption and play longer. All this shows that he is still likely to participate in the 2026 World Cup.

So why is this the case? On the one hand, Messi's form is indeed very good, with 21 goals and 20 assists in Grand Paris this season, the only 20+20 in the five major leagues, and the average rating per game is also the highest in the five major leagues; 17 goals and 5 assists in Argentina, twice in the World Cup final - just quit the national team, even he would feel a pity.

On the other hand, this Argentine team regards Messi as the core from top to bottom, coach Scaloni is the only one, the players are willing to act as "bodyguards", and the atmosphere in the team is excellent, Leo feels the warmth and love of home here. On the pitch, the team builds tactics around him, making the most of his characteristics and making Messi very comfortable playing.

What's more, for Argentina, Messi's position and role really do not have a suitable successor, which is indispensable. So he plays in the 2026 World Cup, which is expected by everyone.

Cristiano Ronaldo does not leave, is Portugal uncomfortable?

Compared with Messi, Ronaldo has more Champions League titles and goals, only one World Cup title, and he is definitely unwilling to lose to his opponent like this. And he has said many times that he will retire after the age of 40, and he will be 41 years old when the 2026 World Cup opens, and he will retire after playing, which is also in line with this time setting.

At the press conference, Ronaldo said: "It has always been my dream to play for my country and I will stay here until me, the coach and the president of the football association think I need to leave. I will never give up the opportunity to play for my country, because it has always been my dream to play for my country. ”

The most crucial sentence is "until I, the coach and the president of the football association think I need to leave", which is very knowledgeable, seems to respect the manager and the football association, but in fact says: as long as I Cristiano Ronaldo is willing, I can't not play for the national team.

Ronaldo does have such capital, after all, he is the first man in the history of Portuguese football, and the status of Eusebio and Figo is below him. Meritorious veteran Santos demoted him to a substitute and the end was the end of class, so Roberto Martínez immediately re-made him play as the main team when he took office.

But can Ronaldo really survive until 2026? Even if he plays in the World Cup, can he really perform well? The answer is probably not necessarily.

In the first half of last season at Manchester United, the World Cup in Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo was eventually reduced to a substitute, is Ten Hach and Santos "harmful"? No, it's that his physicality and scoring ability have really declined, he can't carry it hard, and he doesn't have much other contribution on the field, especially the high defense.

Indeed, Ronaldo still maintained a high goal rate after joining Saudi Arabia, but Riyadh's victory four were empty and Taliska data declined, which is an indisputable fact. And against the Saudi giants, the president is dumb, and more often it is a cruelty.

In the qualifiers, Ronaldo can still have a good performance, but when it comes to the main match, is it okay to encounter a strong dialogue? This is also the biggest difference between him and Messi: the 36-year-old Messi can still be 1 through 3 and can still send a good pass, while Ronaldo has long given up passing and assisting.

More importantly, Portugal have the much younger Gonzalo Ramos in the central forward position, not to mention the World Cup hat, he has scored 19 goals in the Portuguese Premier League this season, is a league silver boot, but can only continue to be a substitute for Cristiano Ronaldo in the national team, and did not catch the European qualifiers. Is he really worse than 38-year-old Ronaldo at the age of 22? Three years later, will the 25-year-old still be pressed by the 41-year-old Ronaldo?

If Messi stays and is what Argentina wants, then Ronaldo will not leave, I am afraid that many people in the Portuguese team will feel "very uncomfortable".