Will Neymar, Messi, and Ronaldo play in the 2026 World Cup?

[Sithara007]

I am not sure what Messi will gain from playing in this tournament. On the other hand, if his performance dips, then it is a massive risk for him. Messi lifted the world cup as the captain of Argentine team during the 2022 edition. He will not gain anything by playing in the 2026 edition. Some critics claim that he wants to defend the trophy, but doing that can be extremely difficult this time. The European teams are in good shape and there is no guarantee that Argentina can even get to the semi-final stage. Ideally he should have retired from national duty after 2022.

If I was Messi, I will just rest because he will have no points to prove at this moment. He is only going to fall his hand and demolish the reputation that he built earlier in the last world cup. If there is anyone that will be hunting for coming back and making history now, it should be Ronaldo. All the clubs he went to, he made sure he made his marks there and the only team he's having challenges with delivering which doubles as the team he should be passionate about is his national team, Portugal. So, I will be seeing Messi's effort in futility because I don't even believe he can win this time around the way he won in 2022.

That is the most sensible thing to do. Messi risks ruining his reputation, in case something goes wrong during the FIFA World Cup of 2026. And Argentina is a well balanced team, and in the past they have proved that they can win matches even without Messi. But that is not the case with Portugal. They don't have the player depth and are entirely dependent on Ronaldo. Brazil will come somewhere in between these two extremes. They can manage to some extent without Neymar. But the squad will be obviously strengthened in case Neymar is included.

[Slow death]

If I was Messi, I will just rest because he will have no points to prove at this moment. He is only going to fall his hand and demolish the reputation that he built earlier in the last world cup. If there is anyone that will be hunting for coming back and making history now, it should be Ronaldo. All the clubs he went to, he made sure he made his marks there and the only team he's having challenges with delivering which doubles as the team he should be passionate about is his national team, Portugal. So, I will be seeing Messi's effort in futility because I don't even believe he can win this time around the way he won in 2022.

Messi is a player with extraordinary skills; he's not the type of player a coach would dismiss. On the contrary, coaches would even beg him to keep playing because those skills of his are still unmatched by other players. On the field, he can coordinate all the players on his team and single-handedly decide the outcome of a game. Messi is good at set pieces, he has speed and can dribble at high speed, and he's not easily brought down.

Messi scores goals, and he's a specialist in providing good assists. Obviously, Messi is the star every coach wants on the field at the World Cup. It's not about whether Argentina will win the World Cup or not, but rather that Messi can greatly help Argentina. Cristiano Ronaldo is a good player and very popular; he surpasses Messi in terms of popularity. But he doesn't surpass Messi in terms of skill.

Some people who are fans of Ronaldo prefer to close their eyes when it comes to comparing Ronaldo with Messi, but the reality is very obvious: Ronaldo has more popularity and Messi has more skill. There are still no players who do everything that Messi does.

[Wakate]

That is the most sensible thing to do. Messi risks ruining his reputation, in case something goes wrong during the FIFA World Cup of 2026. And Argentina is a well balanced team, and in the past they have proved that they can win matches even without Messi. But that is not the case with Portugal. They don't have the player depth and are entirely dependent on Ronaldo. Brazil will come somewhere in between these two extremes. They can manage to some extent without Neymar. But the squad will be obviously strengthened in case Neymar is included.

Messi is going to participate in the world cup tournament like Ronaldo and even if Argentina has a good skilled squad to deliver for the world cup it doesn't mean that Argentina has a high probability of winning this year competition.
I am very certain that Ronaldo is not going to miss a chance to play to his fully to win the world cup competition this time.

[savetheFORUM]

Glad that I voted for the same as most other people were thinking. Messi is not even a question, he would have to be injured and miss out for him to not play, he is going to play if he is healthy and there is no doubt about that at all.

Ronaldo will also play, maybe he won't start every single game, but from the bench or not, he is going to be there and getting minutes, there is absolutely no doubt about that, and he is ready for it too. Neymar is the only questionable one, so I said only Messi and Ronaldo will play too, Neymar is looking not in form and not healthy and not fit enough.

[Sithara007]

Glad that I voted for the same as most other people were thinking. Messi is not even a question, he would have to be injured and miss out for him to not play, he is going to play if he is healthy and there is no doubt about that at all.

Ronaldo will also play, maybe he won't start every single game, but from the bench or not, he is going to be there and getting minutes, there is absolutely no doubt about that, and he is ready for it too. Neymar is the only questionable one, so I said only Messi and Ronaldo will play too, Neymar is looking not in form and not healthy and not fit enough.

What you have posted maybe true. But at the moment, only Ronaldo is playing high quality football at the top-most level. The competition in Saudi Professional League is fierce, and his presence is crucial for his club (Al Nassr) to win the trophy this time. Lionel Messi on the other hand is playing for Inter Miami in a relatively weaker league (Major League Soccer). He may struggle to get adjusted to playing against stronger teams in the world cup. And among the three, Neymar is in the worst position. Not only he is playing in a weak league, he has also missed a lot of matches recently due to injury.

[Bobrox]

What you have posted maybe true. But at the moment, only Ronaldo is playing high quality football at the top-most level. The competition in Saudi Professional League is fierce, and his presence is crucial for his club (Al Nassr) to win the trophy this time. Lionel Messi on the other hand is playing for Inter Miami in a relatively weaker league (Major League Soccer). He may struggle to get adjusted to playing against stronger teams in the world cup. And among the three, Neymar is in the worst position. Not only he is playing in a weak league, he has also missed a lot of matches recently due to injury.

Talking about high quality football domestic league I think Neymar still playing with the highest level club but has inconsistent performance most spending with injury, difference with Cristiano Ronaldo still on the highest physical level and can play well for Al Nassr in this season and still become the captain team for Portugal. Lionel Messi indeed playing with relatively weaker team at Major League Soccer (MLS) his position keep guarantee at Argentina national team for playing at World Cup 2026.

The head coach of national team calling players based on their games statistic, performance until how ready the player physical their self if lower physical and most often injury I think not has chance for playing at World Cup exactly for Neymar.

[Sithara007]

Talking about high quality football domestic league I think Neymar still playing with the highest level club but has inconsistent performance most spending with injury, difference with Cristiano Ronaldo still on the highest physical level and can play well for Al Nassr in this season and still become the captain team for Portugal. Lionel Messi indeed playing with relatively weaker team at Major League Soccer (MLS) his position keep guarantee at Argentina national team for playing at World Cup 2026.

The head coach of national team calling players based on their games statistic, performance until how ready the player physical their self if lower physical and most often injury I think not has chance for playing at World Cup exactly for Neymar.

Neymar playing at highest level? Dude he is playing for his childhood club (Santos FC) in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. Hardly anyone outside Brazil has heard about the club, or the league. When did this became top-level? Messi's case is not that bad, as he is playing in the Major League Soccer. But it is mostly regarded as a retirement destination for top European players. Only Ronaldo is playing top-level and highly competitive football as of now. And that is one of the reason why he is currently injured. Al Nassr is heavily dependent on him, and that puts a lot of stress as well as workload. 

[UchihaSarada]

Neymar playing at highest level? Dude he is playing for his childhood club (Santos FC) in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. Hardly anyone outside Brazil has heard about the club, or the league. When did this became top-level? Messi's case is not that bad, as he is playing in the Major League Soccer. But it is mostly regarded as a retirement destination for top European players. Only Ronaldo is playing top-level and highly competitive football as of now. And that is one of the reason why he is currently injured. Al Nassr is heavily dependent on him, and that puts a lot of stress as well as workload. 

Neymar situation now is similar to situation of Eden Hazard in World Cup 2022 with Belgium but I think Neymar's situation, fitness and performance quality now are even worse than Hazard before World Cup 2022.

Hazard still played for Real Madrid before World Cup 2022 and even he had fitness issues, he looked better when running and dribbling than Neymar but we already witnessed how low quality Hazard played in that World Cup 2022 tournament for his national team. There was even a conflict between Hazard and De Bruyne during that tournament and after that Hazard officially retired his player career.

Neymar truly tried a lot and ambitiously fight for his chance to be called for Brazil in World Cup 2026 but I see the chance for him is almost zero.