MEXICO.- The coach Ricardo La Volpe estimates that Argentina has a chance to revalidate his world title in North America 2026but warn about the now veteran star Lionel Messi. “I don’t think I’ll be there for 90 minutes,” he told AFP.
The injury to the left leg of the Albiceleste captain, who turns 39 on June 25, in full Worldit is already a sign.
And La Volpe – world champion with Argentina in 1978 as third goalkeeper of the team led by César Luis Menotti– estimates that time is running out for the coach Lionel Scaloni to get a replacement.
“You have to find a player who has an imbalance, a goal pass and definition,” said the legendary coach, who coached the Mexican team and several Aztec clubs, in addition to Boca Juniors. Today he works as a commentator on television.
With the two preparatory matches that Argentina has ahead of it, against Honduras and IcelandLa Volpe hopes to “see who Scaloni is already working with.”
“Who is going to be that very important player?” he insists.
The situation with Messi, he clarifies, does not reduce the Albiceleste’s chances of revalidating the title won in Qatar 2022although he sees serious obstacles for this in the runner-up Francein Spain and Portugal.
“Argentina knows how to come out playing, their midfielders wear you down by throwing walls and breaking the lines with deep passes that hurt,” he comments. “They have a midfield with very good footing” and full-backs who pose danger in transitions.
For the 9th, La Volpe believes that Julian Alvarez is ideal to the detriment of Lautaro Martínez: “Because of his punch and mobility, you can’t play him one-on-one.”
The six Argentines
Six Argentine coaches will be on the bench in the World Cup 2026including Scaloni.
“He’s more attractive, he risks more,” he says of the current coach, who places him in the style of Pep Guardiola.
Also noteworthy is the management of Gustavo Alfaro in front of Paraguay.
“He’s a great technician,” he says. “Be careful with Paraguay, they are a difficult team with strong players on the mark and, be careful, because they counterpunch well.”
Highlights the “tactical discipline” of Marcelo Bielsa with Uruguay and regrets that Mauricio Pochettino has not been able to conquer the dressing room USA.
Consider that Nestor Lorenzo and Sebastian Beccacece face a similar scenario with Colombia and Ecuador: “They have great players, but… I would say that they do not have in mind the obligation to become champions.”
Mexican heart
Located in Mexico since 1979 and coach of Tri in the Germany World Cup 2006where the Aztec team was eliminated by Argentina in the round of 16, La Volpe predicts that the co-host of the World Cup 2026 Group A will win.
“He will have an advantage with a full stadium in his favor,” although he warns about the homophobic shouts of the fans that have already cost Mexico two fines from the FIFA by matches in 2024.
“We lack football fluidity, more transition and greater variations” and “if things are not good, we could hear the famous scream. Let’s hope they forget it because they suspend the game,” he adds.
La Volpe focuses his analysis of Mexico on the midfielder Gilberto Morathe promise of El Tri, and considered that he has the potential to shine in the 2026 World Cup “as a hitch” and “not as a midfielder.”
Mora “has a goal and a pass for a goal,” he explains. “I wouldn’t like to wear Mora down physically by playing at the back. I see him as a Messi plays, as a James (Rodríguez) plays, up there.”
Mora will be 17 years and 240 days old in the opening match, on June 11 at the Azteca stadium. He is the youngest of the 1,248 footballers called up for the 2026 World Cup.
“It has already been proven in the first division, we are not inventing with a kid (teenager)”, concludes La Volpe, who during his time with the Mexican team promoted young promises such as the historic Guillermo Ochoa and Andres Guardado in Germany 2006.
