{"id":3909,"date":"2026-06-15T23:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3909"},"modified":"2026-06-15T23:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:08:08","slug":"world-cup-what-to-know-argentinas-lionel-messi-kicks-off-expected-last-hurrah-against-algeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3909","title":{"rendered":"World Cup what to know: Argentina’s Lionel Messi kicks off expected last hurrah against Algeria"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi motions during practice for the the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Kansas City, Kan. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Argentina\u2019s bid to become the first back-to-back World Cup<\/a> champion in 62 years begins on Tuesday.<\/p>

Read more Jackson Koivun is back in the US Open in his last tournament as an amateur<\/a><\/p>\n

The match against Algeria<\/a> in Kansas City, Missouri, also marks the start of the sixth and possibly final World Cup for Lionel Messi.<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the best players of a generation turns 39 later this month and is widely expected to retire from international competition following this year\u2019s expanded 48-team tournament.<\/a><\/p>\n

Messi added the one thing missing from his impressive resume with the 2022 World Cup win in Qatar. Now he\u2019s hoping to lead the Argentines to the first consecutive World Cup titles since Brazil in 1962.<\/p>\n

Messi needs four more goals to surpass Germany\u2019s Miroslav Klose\u2019s World Cup record of 16, but his body is starting to show signs of wear. He\u2019s been dealing with muscle fatigue and a hamstring strain that led to his substitution during Inter Miami\u2019s final match before the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Messi sat out Argentina\u2019s friendly against Honduras in hopes of being healthy for what will likely be his last hurrah on the World Cup stage.<\/p>\n

\u2014 France vs. Senegal, 3 p.m. EDT in East Rutherford, New Jersey (Fox\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Iraq vs. Norway, 6 p.m. EDT in Foxborough, Massachusetts (Fox\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Argentina vs. Algeria, 9 p.m. EDT in Kansas City, Missouri (FS1\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Austria vs. Jordan, midnight EDT in Santa Clara, California (FS1\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n

Another World Cup favorite<\/a> kicks off its tournament Tuesday in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

France, a co-favorite with Spain, opens against Senegal in its bid to win a third World Cup title and second in the last three tournaments. France won in 2018 in Russia and lost to Argentina on penalty kicks four years ago in Qatar.<\/p>\n

Les Bleus have a star-studded lineup<\/a> that includes star Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Ballon d\u2019Or winner Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 and rising 19-year-old star D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 has 56 international goals, one shy of Olivier Giroud\u2019s France record, but has been criticized for his defensive effort since moving from Paris Saint-Germain to Real Madrid in 2024.<\/p>\n

France is a heavy favorite against Senegal, but has a bit of forgettable history against the African country.<\/p>\n

France entered the 2002 World Cup in Japan as the reigning champion, only to lose its opening match to Senegal. The French failed to get out of the group stage after that loss.<\/p>\n

Spain had hoped to rest some of its recovering stars<\/a> in what was expected to be a rout against Cape Verde.<\/p>

Read more 40-year-old Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha turns in a spectacular performance in his World Cup debut<\/a><\/p>\n

The first-time World Cup entrants had other plans.<\/p>\n

Weathering a nearly nonstop attack by the Spanish, Cape Verde pulled off an astonishing 0-0 draw<\/a> against one of the favorites to win the World Cup. Vozinha,<\/a> Cape Verde\u2019s 40-year-old goalie, made a string of saves against Spain\u2019s 27 shots in a performance that left him in tears.<\/p>\n

Cape Verde\u2019s draw is even more impressive when viewed in financial terms.<\/p>\n

Spain has some of the high-paid players in the top level of European soccer. Spanish teen Yamine Lamal has a value of 200 million euros, according to Transfer Markt, and midfielder Pedri comes in at 150 million euros.<\/p>\n

Vozinha\u2019s value: 50,000 euros.<\/p>\n

Norway had what may be the best team photo in World Cup history when its players dressed as Vikings<\/a> in front of three longships on a Norwegian fjord.<\/p>\n

The picture, taken by British photographer David Yarrow, was titled \u201cThe Vikings are coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now they\u2019re in Massachusetts, ready to kick off the World Cup against Iraq.<\/p>\n

Norway is considered a long shot to win the World Cup, but has one of the world\u2019s best strikers in Erling Haaland.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old has been electric for Manchester City and scored 16 goals in European qualifying to send Norway to its first World Cup since 1998.<\/p>\n

Haaland let his famous hair down for the Viking photo and is primed for his moment in the World Cup spotlight.<\/p>\n

Ralf Rangnick<\/a> turned down the Bayern Munich job to continue coaching Austria, and it\u2019s paid dividends.<\/p>\n

Austria won its group in the 2024 European Championship before losing to Turkey and took a big step this year by winning its qualifying group to earn the country\u2019s first World Cup appearance since 1998. Austria is hoping to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 1982.<\/p>\n

The Austrians open Group J play against Jordan, in its first World Cup. Forward Yazan Alnemat scored eight goals in World Cup qualifying, but is out after suffering a torn ACL in the Arab Cup last December.<\/p>\n

\u2014 World Cup racism monitor urges FIFA to remove match official over hand gesture on TV broadcast<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 World Cup teams face major travel demands in tournament spread across US, Canada and Mexico<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 World Cup opener between Mexico and South Africa sets English-language viewership record<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Highlights from Day 5, in photos<\/a><\/p>\n

Cape Verde is the third-smallest country to qualify for the World Cup with roughly 525,000 residents living among the archipelago of 10 volcanic islands off the western coast of Africa. Spain has about 47 million people.<\/p>

Read more Trump claims victory over Iran, but deal is silent on nuclear weapons<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Argentina\u2019s bid to become the first back-to-back World Cup champion in 62 years begins on Tuesday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nWorld Cup what to know: Argentina's Lionel Messi kicks off expected last hurrah against Algeria - Moving Insider USA<\/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:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3909\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Cup what to know: Argentina's Lionel Messi kicks off expected last hurrah against Algeria - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Argentina\u2019s bid to become the first back-to-back World Cup champion in 62 years begins on Tuesday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3909\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-15T23:08:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9e218021a40c3dd6cd6c7ad9cb35144a-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"World Cup what to know: Argentina’s Lionel Messi kicks off expected last hurrah against Algeria\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T23:08:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909\"},\"wordCount\":923,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/fb0b550408531c98ec48ba042b22e680-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909\",\"name\":\"World Cup what to know: Argentina's Lionel Messi kicks off expected last hurrah against Algeria - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/fb0b550408531c98ec48ba042b22e680-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T23:08:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3909#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/fb0b550408531c98ec48ba042b22e680-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/fb0b550408531c98ec48ba042b22e680-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"Argentina's Lionel Messi motions during practice for the the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Kansas City, Kan. 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