Rodrigo De Paul spoke about how he and Lionel Messi are preparing to compete with Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. For years, there has been uncertainty surrounding whether Lionel Messi would be part of Argentina’s squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He has never publicly confirmed it and has consistently cast doubt on the possibility because of his age, but over the last few days the picture has become much clearer. First, Lionel Scaloni included him in the preliminary 55-man roster, and now Rodrigo De Paul has revealed that both players have been preparing for the tournament for quite some time.
“I talk a lot with Leo about the World Cup and the excitement we have,” De Paul said during a recent interview on Lo Del Pollo. “For the last two or three months, we’ve been preparing for it with a training plan beyond what we do at the club level, thinking about the World Cup.”
The Inter Miami midfielder then provided more details about those preparation sessions: “The two of us push ourselves physically to arrive in the best possible shape. We’re doing double sessions that we planned ourselves, and we have our own fitness coach. We’ve been working hard and things are going well.”
This is closely connected to the doubts Messi had publicly expressed whenever he was asked about the 2026 World Cup. Considering that he will turn 39 during the tournament, his main concern has always been whether he will feel physically capable of competing in the most demanding soccer event in the world.
“I’m very excited. I think Argentina will once again be one of the main contenders,” De Paul assured. “I see conviction and hunger in my teammates to keep achieving things. This team is fully committed to giving everything it has.”
The mental aspect of preparing for the World Cup
During the same conversation, Rodrigo De Paul spoke about how he and Messi are preparing not only physically, but also mentally for this summer’s tournament in North America. “You live constantly thinking about the World Cup. As it gets closer, those thoughts come into your head much more often. You live with fear, uncertainty, excitement and a lot of emotions that come with the World Cup,” the midfielder explained.
“I motivate him a lot, I build him up all the time,” De Paul admitted while describing his relationship with Messi. “He motivates me too, but he’s more steady than I am. I’m more up and down, so I have a lot of low moments and he helps me. When I go low, I really go low. He stays balanced and consistent. We complement each other well.”
True to his personality, Rodrigo also joked about what those training sessions with Messi are like. “I record everything. ‘No, stop it, why are you filming me?’ he tells me. ‘Well, Shorty, maybe things work out for us, we make a documentary or something and make some money,’” De Paul revealed.
Argentina’s final roster is getting closer
Argentina were one of the few national teams that publicly released the 55-man preliminary roster submitted to FIFA earlier this week. Lionel Scaloni now has two more weeks to make the final cuts and confirm the official 26-man squad.
Reports indicate that the head coach will take as much time as possible before making the announcement, considering the deadline is June 1 and club competitions will not conclude until May 30 with the UEFA Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal.