2026 World Cup: Lionel Messi to have his own room again at Argentina camp | OneFootball

On the eve of a new World Cup, the inner workings of the Argentine squad began to come to light with a detail that caught the public’s attention. The Argentina national team arrived in the city of Kansas, the venue chosen to set up its operational base during the first stage of the competition. With the delegation’s arrival, details of the team’s day-to-day living arrangements and room assignments ahead of the debut were revealed.

The main novelty is that Lionel Messi will sleep alone in a single room throughout the tournament. The team captain, who will play in his sixth World Cup at 38 years of age, made this decision for reasons of rest and personal comfort. However, for the team’s followers, the decision carries strong symbolic weight because of recent history.

This arrangement exactly repeats the same method used during the successful 2022 Qatar World Cup campaign. Historically, the Rosario star shared training camp continuously with his close friend Sergio “Kun” Agüero from their youth-team days onward. After the former striker’s retirement, the current “Albiceleste” player chose not to take on a new roommate in official competitions.

The organization of the rest of the squad, coached by Lionel Scaloni, does include shared rooms to encourage group unity. One example is the pairing of Rodrigo De Paul and Nicolás Otamendi, two of the most experienced players, who will stay in the same room. The rest of the locker-room pairings followed this traditional training-camp setup as they await the start of the matches.

Beyond interpretations linked to superstitions, the group’s focus is on achieving a historic milestone for modern football. The national team will try to defend the crown won four years ago and become the first back-to-back world champion since Brazil’s feat in 1962. The captain once again stands as the delegation’s fundamental pillar in the pursuit of another title.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.