Lionel Messi said on Monday (August 31, 2026) he is retiring from international football after leading Argentina to a second successive World Cup final in July.

“It was a decision that hurt and still hurts deep in my soul but I understand that it is the right time,” Messi, 39, wrote on Instagram.

“I swear I always gave everything, not just in the last few years when we won everything but before that too, and I always fought and gave my all for this shirt,” he added.

Messi led Argentina to World Cup glory by winning the 2022 final against France in a penalty shootout in Doha, but his side lost 1-0 to Spain in the 2026 final.

Lionel Messi at FIFA World Cups: A visual story

Following the death of his father Jorge on August 8, 2026, Messi had said he had “serious doubts” about continuing to play football of any sort for “much longer”.

Messi’s contract with Major League Soccer club Inter Miami runs until the end of the 2028 season.

For 120 minutes, Spain did what no other team at this World Cup had managed.

It found a way to keep Lionel Messi quiet.

The plan was simple in theory but brutally difficult in practice. Every time the 39-year-old drifted towards the right flank, another red shirt arrived. His every passing lane closed and every familiar slalom towards his left foot was met by bodies rather than space.

“The first idea was to keep Messi at bay,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente admitted afterwards. He had learned his lesson when a 16-year-old Messi had terrorised his Sevilla team in an under-19 match in 2004.

But here, rather than man-marking the Argentine talisman, the Spanish coach looked at cutting the supply and isolating Messi. The Argentine captain managed only 15 touches in the first half and 54 across the entire final. There was no trademark curling finish, no defence-splitting pass, no decisive intervention.

The overwhelming majority of the 80,663 spectators had come hoping to witness another coronation. They wanted to see the man who had already given them one of football’s greatest endings add one final chapter by lifting a second World Cup.

Instead, the faithful watched him leave in tears.

It was here in MetLife in 2016, when Messi had missed in the Copa America final shootout against Chile and announced his international retirement before making a comeback 47 days later to complete his redemption arc.

Ten years later, he returned to the same stadium seeking one final crown, only for it to deny him again.

As Spain celebrated at the centre circle, Messi and his teammates walked towards the Argentina supporters gathered behind the southern goal. The applause that greeted them was as loud as anything heard all evening. Spain’s players, too, understood the moment.

Several, including Lamine Yamal, crossed the pitch to embrace Messi after the final whistle. Later, as Argentina climbed the podium to collect its runner-up medals, the new world champion formed a guard of honour. A few patted him on the back, Messi tried to smile, but the disappointment was hard to contain.

One match, however, cannot rewrite a career.

Messi leaves the World Cup as its most enduring presence with 34 appearances, 23 victories, 21 goals, 27 matches as captain, seven goals from outside the penalty area, 10 knockout-stage assists and, above all, the man who finally completed football’s greatest story by lifting the trophy in 2022. He remains the only player to score in every knockout round of a World Cup-winning campaign.

Spain may have denied him one final triumph, but no one can take away the imprint he has left on this tournament.

For generations to come, the World Cup’s story will be retold through many champions, but few names will echo as deeply as that of Lionel Messi’s.

For 120 minutes, Spain did what no other team at this World Cup had managed.

It found a way to keep Lionel Messi quiet.

The plan was simple in theory but brutally difficult in practice. Every time the 39-year-old drifted towards the right flank, another red shirt arrived. His every passing lane closed and every familiar slalom towards his left foot was met by bodies rather than space.

“The first idea was to keep Messi at bay,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente admitted afterwards. He had learned his lesson when a 16-year-old Messi had terrorised his Sevilla team in an under-19 match in 2004.

But here, rather than man-marking the Argentine talisman, the Spanish coach looked at cutting the supply and isolating Messi. The Argentine captain managed only 15 touches in the first half and 54 across the entire final. There was no trademark curling finish, no defence-splitting pass, no decisive intervention.

The overwhelming majority of the 80,663 spectators had come hoping to witness another coronation. They wanted to see the man who had already given them one of football’s greatest endings add one final chapter by lifting a second World Cup.

Instead, the faithful watched him leave in tears.

It was here in MetLife in 2016, when Messi had missed in the Copa America final shootout against Chile and announced his international retirement before making a comeback 47 days later to complete his redemption arc.

Ten years later, he returned to the same stadium seeking one final crown, only for it to deny him again.

As Spain celebrated at the centre circle, Messi and his teammates walked towards the Argentina supporters gathered behind the southern goal. The applause that greeted them was as loud as anything heard all evening. Spain’s players, too, understood the moment.

Several, including Lamine Yamal, crossed the pitch to embrace Messi after the final whistle. Later, as Argentina climbed the podium to collect its runner-up medals, the new world champion formed a guard of honour. A few patted him on the back, Messi tried to smile, but the disappointment was hard to contain.

One match, however, cannot rewrite a career.

Messi leaves the World Cup as its most enduring presence with 34 appearances, 23 victories, 21 goals, 27 matches as captain, seven goals from outside the penalty area, 10 knockout-stage assists and, above all, the man who finally completed football’s greatest story by lifting the trophy in 2022. He remains the only player to score in every knockout round of a World Cup-winning campaign.

Spain may have denied him one final triumph, but no one can take away the imprint he has left on this tournament.

For generations to come, the World Cup’s story will be retold through many champions, but few names will echo as deeply as that of Lionel Messi’s.

While Lamine Yamal continues to steal the headlines with his attacking brilliance, Pau Cubarsi has quietly become the backbone of Spain’s backline at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The 19-year-old Barcelona defender has displayed the composure, anticipation and football intelligence of a veteran centre back.

Despite Spain possessing experienced defensive options on the team, Luis de la Fuente has preferred starting Cubarsi in every World Cup game. The young centre back’s performances have justified the faith kept by the manager.

Spain remains the only nation yet to concede a goal in the tournament. Behind Spain’s remarkable defensive record is the calm authority of Pau Cubarsi, who has transformed Spain’s backline into the competition’s toughest defence.

Whether clearing dangerous crosses, producing perfectly timed tackles or throwing himself into crucial last-minute blocks, the teenager has repeatedly delivered under pressure with a remarkable maturity.

Cubarsi offers far more than defensive security. In Spain’s possession-based philosophy, he is the first conductor of every attack, orchestrating play from deep with composure beyond his years. His immaculate passing, intelligent positioning and line-breaking vision consistently dismantle opposition pressure. At this World Cup, few defenders have matched his unique blend of defensive excellence and technical brilliance.

His latest masterclass came against Portugal, where Cubarsi delivered another commanding performance to preserve Spain’s fifth straight clean sheet on the biggest stage. Alongside Aymeric Laporte, he has forged one of the tournament’s most dependable defensive partnerships, giving Spain the platform to dominate matches at both ends of the pitch.

While Yamal continues to light up the tournament with moments of brilliance, Spain’s World Cup charge is being held together by the composure, resilience and defensive authority of Pau Cubarsi, whose remarkable maturity has elevated him into the ranks of the world’s finest defenders.

The script was written long ago — small island nation, eliminated at the group stage, goes home with a good story. Cape Verde has not read it.

Three games in at the 2026 World Cup, it is unbeaten, through to the knockouts, and nobody is quite sure what to expect from the African nation.

Cape Verde became a FIFA member in 1986. After failing to qualify for the 2002 extravaganza with a loss to Algeria in the Qualifiers, the country made steady progress.

Cape Verde attained its first AFCON qualification in 2013 and came close to sealing a World Cup berth in 2022, only to fall short at the final hurdle due to a last-game draw against Nigeria.

Four years later, it went one better — topping its CAF group ahead of Cameroon to book its tickets for the North American showpiece.

Cape Verde’s first test was against a Spanish side that had dismantled defences on the way to the EURO 2024 title. The Sharks held the Spaniards to a goalless draw through an exemplary display from their 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha. They then came from behind to hold Uruguay 2-2.

Saudi Arabia, too, could not find a way past the Cape Verde defence.

It now has a date with Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the round of 32. A year ago, that sentence would have read as fiction. However, Bubista’s men have spent the last three weeks making the football world question everything it thought it knew. Why stop now?