Lionel Messi injury latest: Argentina manager reveals "significant" update before World Cup

Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni is optimistic of having Lionel Messi available for La Albiceleste's warm-up matches for the 2026 World Cup following an injury scare.

The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner is about to contest his sixth different World Cup Finals with the reigning champions and has been as productive as ever at club level this term.

Messi has registered 20 goal involvements in just 15 matches for Inter Miami across all competitions, but he suffered a muscular injury in a 6-4 MLS win over Philadelphia Union on May 25.

The 38-year-old was taken off in the 73rd minute of that 10-goal thriller, although there were no major concerns about his condition at the time, and he was named in Argentina's World Cup squad as expected.

Before facing Algeria, Austria and Jordan in their World Cup group, Scaloni's side meet Honduras and Iceland in friendlies, tackling the former in the early hours of Sunday morning UK time.

Argentina receive Lionel Messi injury boost ahead of World Cup

Speaking to the media ahead of the clash with Honduras, Scaloni confirmed that Messi had been training well and might be an option for the weekend's clash, albeit most likely as a substitute.

"Leo is doing well, he's already trained with the group ⁠for part of the session, and that's significant. He's no longer training ⁠separately," the Argentina manager affirmed.

"He is improving a lot and could even take part in one of the (warm-up) matches for a few minutes. We'll see whether it's this one or the next, but he's much better and that gives us peace of mind."

Should Messi feature on Sunday, the attacker will win his 199th cap for the Argentina national team, whom he has also registered 116 goals and 64 assists for since his debut in 2005.

Could Lionel Messi break all-time international appearances record?

With 198 Argentina appearances under his belt already, Messi sits third in the list of all-time male appearance makers, and he will almost certainly move into second place during the World Cup.

The 38-year-old is only four behind equalling Bader Al-Mutawa, who won 202 caps for the Kuwait national team between 2003 and 2022, and was the first player to reach a double-century in men's football.

However, Messi is 28 caps adrift of long-time on-field rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who is on 226 appearances for Portugal and counting, but the Argentine is two years younger than the Real Madrid icon.

As Ronaldo will play at the 2026 World Cup aged 41, it is not impossible to imagine Messi competing at the 2028 Copa America at the same age, so the former's caps record could still come under threat.

Messi will come nowhere near the all-time high across men's and women's football, though, as Kristine Lilly made an astronomical 354 appearances for the USA between 1987 and 2010.