Messi Trains Alone as Argentina Prepares for World Cup

Lionel Messi stepped onto the grass in Kansas City on Monday with the rest of Argentina’s squad, but his session told its own story.

While his teammates moved through full drills in their first pre-World Cup training at the team’s U.S. base, the captain peeled off to work on his own programme, managing the muscle fatigue in his left hamstring that has lingered since May 24. No alarms, no drama. Just controlled caution around the most important left leg in world football.

Argentina’s Football Association confirmed that Messi, 38, joined a small group of players working away from the main session, focusing on “specific exercises” under the watch of the physiotherapy staff. Those players, the AFA said, are “making good progress” as the world champions build towards another tilt at the trophy.

The scene was familiar: Messi on the fringes of the group, a few cones, some careful movements, staff hovering close. This time, though, it comes with a clear target. Argentina open their World Cup campaign against Algeria on June 16, right here in Kansas City, and every step between now and then is calibrated to have their captain ready.

He is expected to make it.

Argentina, ranked third in the world, have set up camp in the United States for the final phase of their preparations. After settling in Missouri, they will head to Auburn, Alabama, for their last tune-up match against Iceland on June 9, a final rehearsal before the serious business begins.

For Messi, this is uncharted territory even by his standards. The Inter Miami star is heading into a record sixth World Cup, stretching a career that has already redefined what longevity at the top looks like. Since his debut for the national team in 2005, he has become Argentina’s all-time leader in caps (198) and goals (116), numbers that frame the scale of what he still carries on his shoulders.

He arrives in camp as a two-time MLS MVP and an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, but those labels mean little over the next few weeks. What matters now is that hamstring, that rhythm, that sharpness. The staff will manage his minutes, his workload, his every sprint.

The rest of the squad trained fully on Monday, the first real step of a title defence that will define this generation. Messi moved separately, but everything about Argentina’s preparation still revolves around him. The question now is not whether he will be there on June 16.

It is what he has left to write in a tournament he already helped to change forever.