This Is Messi's Last World Cup. Argentina Know It. The Whole World Knows It.

There is a photograph from December 2022 that football fans will remember for the rest of their lives. Lionel Messi, lifting the World Cup trophy in Qatar, finally holding the one thing his extraordinary career had been missing. Grown men cried watching it — in Buenos Aires, in Dhaka, in Kathmandu, everywhere football is loved.

Now he is back to defend it. And everyone understands what this is.

At 38 years old, this is almost certainly Messi's last World Cup. He has already played in more of them than any male footballer in history. He is three goals away from the all-time World Cup scoring record. And he leads an Argentina team that arrives in North America as both the defending champion and a side carrying the weight of an entire football-obsessed nation's expectations.

Argentina have been drawn into Group J, alongside Algeria, Austria and Jordan. On paper, it is a kind draw. Algeria are the most dangerous of the three but beatable. Austria have quality but limited recent World Cup pedigree. Jordan are making their debut on this stage. Argentina should advance comfortably — but Argentina have a long history of making their own fans nervous in the group stage before clicking into gear.

Their schedule: June 16 against Algeria in Kansas City, June 22 against Austria in Dallas, June 27 against Jordan, also in Dallas.

The real test, as always, comes in the knockout rounds, where one bad ninety minutes ends everything. And history is not on Argentina's side here. No team has successfully defended the World Cup since Brazil in 1962. Three of the last four defending champions did not even survive the group stage.

But Argentina have something the statistics cannot measure. They have Messi, in his final act, playing for legacy rather than proof. They have a squad that has now tasted the ultimate victory and knows exactly what it takes. And they have a manager and a generation of players who would run through walls for their captain.

Whether they win it again or fall short, the next six weeks are about watching Messi while we still can. Every free kick. Every impossible pass. Every moment of the magic that has defined two decades of football.

Watch him closely. We will not see another like him.

Argentina's first match is June 16. Set your alarm. You will want to remember where you were.