US President Donald Trump refused to predict the identity of the 2026 World Cup champion, before the final match between Argentina and Spain in New York, New Jersey, stressing at the same time that “it is difficult to bet against” the captain of the Argentine national team, Lionel Messi.
During an interview with Fox, Trump avoided announcing an explicit prediction for the winner of the title, but he expressed great admiration for what Messi provided, praising the decisive pass from which he made the winning goal for Argentina against England in the semi-finals.
“I would say it’s hard to bet against Messi,” Trump said.
He added: “The pass was absolutely perfect. I will not choose a specific party, but it is really difficult to bet against Messi.”
On the other hand, Messi continued to write history with the Argentine national team, after participating in the 2026 World Cup final, becoming the oldest field player to play a final match in the tournament, at the age of 39 years and 25 days.
The Argentine national team captain also became the second player in history to participate in 3 different World Cup finals, after the Brazilian legend Cafu, who played in the 1994, 1998 and 2002 finals, while Messi participated in the 2014, 2022 and 2026 editions.
With this participation, Messi also equaled Cafu’s record as the player who participated in the most World Cup final matches, after he had previously played in the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil, which Argentina lost to Germany with a goal after overtime, before he made up for that disappointment by winning the 2022 World Cup title at the expense of France on penalties, after the end of regular and extra time in a 3-3 draw.
Messi scored 8 goals in the 2026 edition, ranking second in the tournament’s top scorers behind Frenchman Kylian Mbappe, who scored 10 goals.
The Argentine star also occupies second place on the list of all-time World Cup scorers, with 21 goals in 6 appearances, behind Mbappe, who raised his tally to 22 goals in only 3 appearances.
Argentina entered the final aspiring to win the World Cup for the second time in a row and the fourth in its history, while Spain sought to win its second world title after its first win in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
