Messi’s Argentina was already classified. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal won the spot this week, beating the North Macedonian underdog, who had eliminated Italy.
Thus, the biggest players (still) in world football will compete, barring an injury, the World Cup in Qatar, which starts on November 21st.
Already veterans but still in good shape, Messi, 34, and Cristiano, 37, will thus be part of a very small group of players who have been to five FIFA men’s World Cups.
Until today, only four footballers have been to this amount of Cups, two of them goalkeepers.
They are the German midfielder Lothar Matthäus, captain of the champion team in Italy in 1990, who was also present in 1982, 1986, 1994 and 1998; Mexican defender Rafa Márquez (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018), and goalkeepers Antonio Carbajal, Márquez’s compatriot (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962 and 1966), and Gianluigi Buffon, champion with Italy in Germany, in 2006, and who was at the 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
The difference between these four is that Matthäus, Márquez and Carvajal took the field in each of the editions for which they were called up; Buffon, France, in 1998, was in reserve for all Squadra Azzurra matches.
Undisputed starters in their national teams, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi will not be the only new members of the Clube dos Cinco –my definition for those who participate in five World Cups– when they go to Qatar.
Mexico, which secured its spot on Wednesday (30) by defeating El Salvador 2-0, will have two more players, in addition to Márquez and Carvajal, at this club.
Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, 36, and midfielder Andrés Guardado, 35, will certainly be called up by coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino for the first World Cup in the Middle East.
Ochoa, famous for closing the goal in the game against Brazil in the first phase of the 2014 World Cup (0-0 in Fortaleza), is a starter, as is captain Guardado. Both went to tournaments starting in 2006.
Guardado is on his way to being the Mexican to wear the jersey of the Mexican national team the most. There are 173 games. More than him, only former defender Claudio Suárez (177).
Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi already hold this position in their respective teams, being also the top scorers of each one.
In Qatar, Messi will also be able to set another World Cup record.
If he plays seven games, he will overtake Matthäus as the player with the most appearances in a Cup.
For that, Argentina needs to reach the semifinals, which guarantees the right to one more game, be it the final or the dispute for third place.
The Argentine superstar has already played 19 matches, six fewer than the German, and has a chance of reaching 26.
Even if he doesn’t make it, Messi has everything to pass on another myth of Argentine football. Diego Armando Maradona, who died in 2020, played in 21 matches, divided into four World Cups (1982, 1986, 1990 and 1994).​
Aside from the aforementioned athletes, there would be one more that could be part of the Clube dos Cinco. The conditionals should be stressed: there would and could be. Well, it won’t.
Spanish defender Sergio Ramos, 36, champion in South Africa-2010, has four World Cups under his belt. However, he is totally out of the plans of coach Luis Enrique, who is betting on a new generation for the sector.
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In time: In women’s World Cups, the record holder for participation is a Brazilian. The steering wheel Formiga (Miraildes Maciel Mota) participated in the 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 editions. Seven World Cups. After her comes the Japanese attacking midfielder Homare Sawa, now retired, who has been in six World Cups.
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