Argentina and Mexico meet again at the 2022 Qatar World Cup

Lionel Messi and Raúl Jiménez, from Argentina and Mexico.EFE/AFP

What may be the last World Cup for Lionel Messi, 34, will have to go through the booth of Mexico, Poland and Saudi Arabia.

The Albiceleste, champion of the Copa América, will face a Mexican team that he has historically dominated.

Both teams will play on Saturday, November 25, on the second date of the World Cup, in what will be the biggest confrontation between teams in Latin America.

Argentina will land in Qatar with a clear conscience.

Those led by Lionel Scaloni have the Copa América as their distinguished medal, which they won in Brazil, on the legendary Maracana stadium.

Also because they had a clean tie in South America with 14 wins, three draws and no losses.

They finished second, below

.

Messi, in veteran captain mode, has been key to assembling the new Argentine generation: Rodrigo de Paul, Leandro Paredes, Guido Rodríguez, Nico González.

In the goal they have found an ideal guardian named Emiliano

Martínez, in a completely different situation from the one that occurred in Russia 2018 when the then coach, Jorge Sampaoli, was torn between Willy Caballero and Franco Armani due to the lack of a leader in the goal.

Argentina will have its first game on Monday, November 21 against Saudi Arabia and will close against the Polish team on the 29th.

In terms of numbers, Mexico has carved out a decent path to Qatar, finishing second in the standings to surprise Canada.

The problem for the Mexicans has been the performance of the team.

Tata Martino, who took over in 2019, has struggled to take advantage of a new crop of youngsters.

The Argentine coach separated the scorer Javier

Hernández for causing problems in the locker room;

Carlos Vela gave up playing and the Giovani brothers and Jonathan Dos Santos had a nosedive in the game.

The United States was the biggest stumbling block for Martino by stripping him of the regional titles of the Gold Cup and the Nations League, important for the FIFA ranking.

El Tri won their games by the minimum and at the last minute.

That opened the gap between the coach and the fans.

Even when they qualified for the World Cup, there was no party at the epicenter of celebrations: the Angel of Independence.

The debut of the Mexicans will be against the tough Poland of Robert Lewandowski, on November 21.

His last game will be against Saudi Arabia.

The barrier that the Mexicans seek to break is the round of 16 phase, which has become the Mexican trauma of every four years since 1994.

In 2006, Argentina broke Mexico's heart in the round of 16 when they won in extra time with a period goal from Maxi Rodríguez (2-1) despite the great Mexican approach, which at that time was led by the Argentinian Ricardo La Volpe.

Four years later, in South Africa, Mexico was overwhelmed by Diego Maradona's Albiceleste (3-1) and before a timid strategy by Javier Aguirre.

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