{"id":294084,"date":"2026-06-03T06:53:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/294084\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T06:53:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:53:22","slug":"scaloni-explains-messis-2026-world-cup-workload-management-following-injury-with-inter-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/294084\/","title":{"rendered":"Scaloni explains Messi’s 2026 World Cup workload management following injury with Inter Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lionel Messi<\/a> sparked concern across Argentina after being forced off due to injury during Inter Miami\u2019s victory over Philadelphia<\/a>. The physical setback comes just two weeks before the Argentina national team is scheduled to open its 2026 World Cup Group J campaign against Algeria on Tuesday, June 16.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview with Diario Ol\u00e9, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni<\/a> provided an update on the national team captain, noting that the Inter Miami forward concluded his club season dealing with discomfort in his right hamstring.<\/p>\n

Consequently, Messi\u2019s availability for Argentina\u2019s upcoming pre-World Cup<\/a> friendlies against Honduras and Iceland remains uncertain. Scaloni detailed the cautious approach the coaching staff will implement regarding his minutes in North America.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery decision we\u2019ve made, we\u2019ve discussed with him,\u201d Scaloni said regarding their communication. \u201cIt\u2019s pointless for me to sit here and say that I make the calls alone. In his case\u2014and I believe he has earned it\u2014I am always going to talk to him, ask how he feels, and we find common ground\u201c.<\/p>\n

The manager indicated that the current strategy is to evaluate Messi on a day-to-day basis, monitoring his physical progression match by match before making joint decisions on what is best for his health.<\/p>\n

\"Lionel<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi could see teammates cut from Argentina\u2019s World Cup roster as Scaloni reportedly sets fitness deadline<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are decisions you make by looking at the day-to-day reality,\u201d Scaloni concluded. \u201cIt\u2019s useless to say right now that we have a rigid plan, because if he is flying on the pitch, that plan goes out the window. The real plan is to manage him gradually, see how he responds, gauge his sensations, and then make our decisions based on that\u201d.<\/p>\n

Messi projected to miss friendlies Argentina\u2019s friendlies<\/p>\n

In an effort to ensure he reaches the group stage opener against Algeria in peak condition, Messi is currently training separately from the main squad<\/a>. He will gradually increase his workload to avoid aggravating the hamstring discomfort sustained during Inter Miami\u2019s final MLS fixture against Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

As a result, the Argentina captain is highly unlikely to feature in the warm-up matches against Honduras and Iceland, scheduled for June 6 and June 9, respectively.<\/p>\n

With the captain sidelined for the friendlies, his spot in the attacking rotation could be filled by Atletico Madrid forward Thiago Almada or Como 1907 midfielder Nico Paz, though the latter\u2019s availability is also pending evaluation for a minor knee issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi sparked concern across Argentina after being forced off due to injury during Inter Miami\u2019s victory over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[10073,1660,124031,123,125,124],"class_list":["post-294084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-inter-miami","tag-lionel-messi","tag-lionel-scaloni","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}