When Lionel Messi leads Argentina onto the pitch at Arrowhead Stadium on Tuesday evening, he will carry not only the captain’s armband but also the weight of two decades of World Cup history. The 16 June fixture against Algeria marks the opening of Group J and the start of Argentina’s defence of the trophy won in Qatar, yet the date resonates far beyond the immediate contest. It is exactly twenty years since Messi scored his first World Cup goal, as a teenager against Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, and this appearance will be his 200th in the national shirt — a tally surpassed among World Cup participants only by Cristiano Ronaldo. For the 38-year-old, it is also the beginning of a sixth and final World Cup campaign, a farewell tour that will be scrutinised from Buenos Aires to Bangkok.

Viewed from the Argentine capital, the mood is one of cautious optimism laced with historical anxiety. Lionel Scaloni’s side arrives fortified by 17 survivors of the 2022 triumph and by comfortable friendly victories over Honduras and Iceland, with only left-back Nicolás Tagliafico ruled out through injury. Yet the albiceleste are acutely aware that recent history has been unkind to defending champions: since 2002, France, Italy, Spain and Germany all failed to survive the group stage four years after lifting the trophy. Argentina themselves began their Qatar campaign with a shock defeat to Saudi Arabia, a precedent that tempers any sense of inevitability. Moreover, Conmebol representatives have yet to win a match at this tournament, a statistic that adds a continental dimension to the pressure on Scaloni’s men.

From Algiers, the encounter is framed as an opportunity to ambush a giant on the grandest stage. Algeria return to the World Cup after an absence of more than a decade, coached by the Bosnian Vladimir Petkovic and built around veterans such as Riyad Mahrez, the emerging Mohamed Amoura, and goalkeeper Luca Zidane, son of the French legend. The only previous meeting between the two nations, a chaotic friendly almost twenty years ago, offers little tactical insight but serves as a reminder that the desert foxes can be unpredictable opponents. Analysts in London and Zurich note that the champions’ curse often strikes in precisely this kind of fixture: a seemingly manageable opener against a motivated, low-expectation side that can exploit any complacency.

Beyond the result, the evening in Kansas City will set the tone for Argentina’s attempt to become the first nation since Brazil in 1962 to retain the title. A smooth start would quieten talk of a curse and allow Messi’s farewell narrative to build steadily; a stumble would instantly revive the ghosts of Saudi Arabia and place the entire project under immense strain. In the heart of the American Midwest, where thousands of Argentine supporters have transformed the city into a satellite of Buenos Aires, the defending champions begin a journey that will either burnish Messi’s legacy or expose the fragility that has so often accompanied the crown.