Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni has confirmed Lionel Messi will feature in the country’s final pre-World Cup friendly against Iceland on Tuesday night in Auburn, Alabama, though the extent of his involvement remains to be decided.
“Messi will play, I just don’t know how many minutes,” Scaloni said at a Monday press conference. “I still need to talk to him in today’s training and we will see how many minutes he plays to avoid any type of risks. We will decide, but in principle he will play.”
The Inter Miami captain reported to the Argentina camp carrying muscle fatigue in his left hamstring, having exited his club’s final MLS match before the World Cup break against Philadelphia Union in the 73rd minute. He was an unused substitute in Argentina’s friendly victory over Honduras on 6 June in College Station, Texas, though he did take part in the pre-match warmup.
Scaloni had previously confirmed Messi began partial training with the rest of the squad on 5 June, with his progress being assessed on a day-to-day basis.
“We’re going to distribute the minutes of the players who will play tomorrow to try to avoid any mishaps,” the World Cup-winning coach added.
Scaloni also confirmed that Nico Paz, Nahuel Molina and Gonzalo Montiel are available for selection against Iceland, having all been training separately due to individual injury concerns in recent days.
On other injury matters, the manager offered cautious optimism over Julian Alvarez and Leandro Paredes. “Julian Alvarez is doing well, he has an ankle discomfort that’s going away,” Scaloni said. “Lea Paredes is also coming along well, in the next few days he’ll be able to rejoin the group.”
The squad is still awaiting a replacement for Leonardo Balerdi, who departed camp on 5 June with a calf injury and has been ruled out of the tournament. Scaloni said a final decision on his successor in the 26-man squad would follow Tuesday’s match.
“We’ll have a clearer picture tomorrow after the match regarding his replacement,” he said. “We can cover Balerdi’s position, but we are also looking at other options depending on how the rest of the injured players progress.”
Argentina begin their 2026 World Cup campaign on 16 June against Algeria in Group J, before further group-stage matches against Austria and Jordan.
