Can Messi and Argentina Repeat? Psychologists Weigh the Mental Challenge Ahead of the World Cup

Argentina begins its World Cup campaign against Algeria at 4:00 a.m. in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, with the match set for Kansas City and the world watching the defending champions. Lionel Messi’s side is trying to become only the third national team to win back-to-back World Cups, after Brazil in 1958 and 1962 and Italy in 1934 and 1938.

Veteran sports psychologist Gabi Zaks says defending a title creates traps, especially the temptation to keep the same squad, system and habits. He pointed to Spain after its 2010 title and France after 1998 as examples of champions who failed at the next World Cup after sticking with older, familiar teams. “The comfort zone is dangerous,” he said, while noting that continuity also brings cohesion and familiarity.

Zaks said Messi arrives in a different mental place than in Qatar, where Argentina won the trophy and Messi carried the team through decisive moments, including the must-win match against Mexico. “Messi will arrive calm, he has already done it,” Zaks said, adding that the pressure is lower this time because “everyone in Argentina wants it to happen, but nobody will be angry with him if it doesn’t, and that is freeing.”

Zaks also said Argentina may need tactical adjustments because, four years later, he is not sure Messi can physically do everything himself at age 39. He said Argentina has no real heir to Messi, but its greatest advantage is psychological resilience, built through its hard-fought wins over Mexico, the Netherlands and France in the last World Cup. Dorit Ben Gad, an educational psychologist with Meuhedet in Jerusalem, said Argentina may find repeating the Qatar triumph especially hard because the memory is still fresh, which can dull hunger, and she said the key question will be whether that hunger still exists on the field.