{"id":327477,"date":"2026-06-08T13:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/327477\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T13:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:05:12","slug":"what-to-know-about-argentina-ahead-of-fifa-world-cup-trip-north-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/327477\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know about Argentina ahead of FIFA World Cup trip North Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"Argentina's Lionel Messi greets teammates Nicolas Otamendi after he scored the third goal against Zambia during a friendly soccer match in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Gustavo Garello)\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Argentina&#8217;s Lionel Messi greets teammates Nicolas Otamendi after he scored the third goal against Zambia during a friendly soccer match in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Gustavo Garello)<\/p>\n<p>Gustavo Garello\/AP<\/p>\n<p>North Texas has been gifted not one, but two\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/world-cup\/\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> group stage matches featuring the defending champions.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-channels-pixel.ex.co\/events\/0012000001fxZm9AAE?integrationType=DEFAULT&amp;template=design%2Farticle%2Fplatypus_two_column.tpl\" alt=\"\" class=\"x1px y1px vh abs\" aria-hidden=\"true\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Argentina will begin its repeat campaign in Kansas City, Missouri before making its way to AT&amp;T Stadium for games on June 22 and 27. <a href=\"https:\/\/inside.fifa.com\/fifa-world-ranking\/men\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The No. 1 ranked national team in the world<\/a> has been drawn into Group J alongside Algeria, Austria and Jordan.<\/p>\n<p>With a superstar unlike any soccer has ever seen and maybe the deepest roster in the competition, Argentina are the favorites to hoist the World Cup trophy again this year. Here&#8217;s what to know about the squad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Group J schedule<\/p>\n<p>Monday, June 15, 11\u00a0p.m. (FS1): Austria vs. Jordan, Levi&#8217;s Stadium (Santa Clara, California)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday, June 16, 8 p.m. (Fox): Argentina vs. Algeria, Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Monday, June 22, 12\u00a0p.m. (Fox): Argentina vs. Austria, AT&amp;T Stadium (Arlington)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Monday, June 22, 10\u00a0p.m. (FS1): Jordan vs. Algeria, Levi&#8217;s Stadium (Santa Clara, California)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, June 27, 9\u00a0p.m. (Fox): Jordan vs. Argentina, AT&amp;T Stadium (Arlington)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, June 27, 9\u00a0p.m. (FS1): Algeria vs. Austria, Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/fc-dallas\/article\/2026-fifa-world-cup-full-schedule-dates-times-tv-22286999.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Here\u2019s a look at the full schedule of matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Top storyline<\/p>\n<p>When arguably the greatest of all time is playing, it&#8217;s hard to think of anything else that could compete.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>That player, of course, is Lionel Messi. The winner of a record eight Ballon d&#8217;Or awards, the most prolific assister in the history of soccer and a galactico with more than 900 goals for club and country to his name. His celebrity transcends the sport, and wherever he goes during the 2026 World Cup, there will be Messi mania.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s even more intriguing? Messi famously joined Inter Miami of MLS in 2023. Call it a World Cup on home soil for the league&#8217;s biggest star.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Players to Watch<\/p>\n<p>Argentina are the defending champions for a reason, as they boast one of the most talented squads in the world. In addition to Messi, Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez has become a certified star since his breakout at the 2022 World Cup, and Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister is one of the steadiest players on the pitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fan experience<\/p>\n<p>You are sure to find passionate fans of Argentina across North Texas during the 2026 World Cup. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/other-sports\/article\/argentina-fans-lionel-messi-2026-world-cup-22261169.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Some even pedaled from their home country<\/a> to watch the team play in the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>The statistics for\u00a0super fans Vicente Conculini, Yamand\u00fa Mart\u00ednez and Miguel Silio are astonishing. Nine months, 10,000 miles and over 17 countries visited while carrying 80-pounds on their backs during their bicycle trip from South America. They arrived in Dallas in May, ready to join even more supporters in cheering on the defending World Cup champions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Argentina, soccer is part of your identity,\u201d Conculini said. \u201cAnd this could be Messi\u2019s final World Cup. We couldn\u2019t miss it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Staff writer Abraham Nudelstejer contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Argentina&#8217;s Lionel Messi greets teammates Nicolas Otamendi after he scored the third goal against Zambia during a friendly&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28,87906],"class_list":["post-327477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tp-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}