World Cup 2026, Group J: Argentina the Favourite — Algeria Come to Earn Second

Lionel Messi lifts the ball with his left foot and the world adjusts. That is the quality that separates Argentina’s Group J campaign from everyone else’s — not the depth of their squad, not Scaloni’s tactical clarity, not the ghosts of Qatar in every Argentine jersey, but the specific fact that one man can alter the physics of a match with a single touch. Algeria, Austria, and Jordan will spend their group-stage days trying to prevent exactly that.

Photo: Fanny Schertzer / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lionel_Messi_-_Switzerland_vs._Argentina,_29th_February_2012.jpg

The group opens in Kansas City, Argentina facing Algeria in the first fixture — a match that looks straightforward on paper until you remember what Algeria did to the Netherlands. Vladimir Petković’s side went to Rotterdam and left with a 1–0 win: Anis Hadj Moussa curling a late winner past the goalkeeper in the dying minutes, the Dutch chasing shadows for an hour. Ronald Koeman called it a wake-up call. It was. Group J should have been listening.

The Champions

Argentina arrive in North America as the defending world champions and the clear favourites to lead Group J. Lionel Scaloni has constructed a team that does not require Messi to be extraordinary in every minute — Lautaro Martínez and Julián Álvarez provide the movement; Emiliano Martínez holds the goal; Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martínez defend with controlled intensity; Rodrigo De Paul and Alexis Mac Allister run the engine room with intent. This is not a one-man side. It carries depth, structure, and the collective belief that only comes from having won together before.

Messi reaches this tournament at 38. It is his sixth World Cup — more than any male player in the game’s history, with 26 appearances already on his record. An injury concern at Inter Miami attracted scrutiny, but he is fit and named. In qualifying, he finished as CONMEBOL’s top scorer with eight goals across 12 appearances. The form was not decoration.

The question for Argentina in Group J is not whether they advance — they will. It is whether the machine still delivers its cleanest performance under real tournament pressure. At Qatar 2022, Scaloni’s side lost their opener to Saudi Arabia and then won every match that mattered. They know how to absorb early disruption.

The Warning From Rotterdam

Algeria have not appeared at a World Cup since 2014, when they pushed Germany to extra time in the round of sixteen and confirmed what African football had long argued: this squad, when organised and motivated, can discomfort the best. Petković, who spent seven years guiding Switzerland through two European Championships and a World Cup, brings the same tactical discipline and pressing intelligence to the Algerian setup.

Riyad Mahrez, at 33, plays in Saudi Arabia’s Pro League and arrives at his second World Cup knowing this is his last. The doubts about whether he can still perform at the highest level were answered, at least partly, in Rotterdam. Algeria moved with structure and precision against a Netherlands side that reached the last four at the previous tournament. Mahrez drifted between lines; Ismaël Bennacer controlled the tempo; and when Hadj Moussa collected the ball in the 86th minute and curled into the top corner, the Algerian supporters in the stadium understood exactly what this squad can do.

Luca Zidane, son of Zinedine, is Algeria’s starting goalkeeper. He carries a name that conjures the greatest player of a generation. In Kansas City, against Argentina, every camera will find him at some point. What matters is what he does with the ball.

Algeria’s path to the last sixteen runs through second place. Hold Argentina close in the opener, beat Jordan on June 22, and arrive at the final group match against Austria in Kansas City with something at stake. If Mahrez is present and Petković’s defensive structure holds — second place is genuinely within reach.

Rangnick’s Return

Austria have not played at a World Cup since France ’98. Twenty-eight years away from the tournament, and they return under the most tactically specific coach in European football. Ralf Rangnick rebuilt not just a squad but an entire culture of high-press, high-intensity play since arriving in 2022. At Euro 2024, Austria reached the round of sixteen before Turkey eliminated them in a match that showed both their capacity to compete and their vulnerability against sides that absorb and counter.

David Alaba captains the squad and makes his World Cup debut at 33. Marko Arnautovic, 37, carries the all-time scoring record with 47 goals across 132 appearances — a forward who has spent his career proving he belongs in serious company. The midfield — Sabitzer, Laimer, Schlager, Seiwald, Baumgartner — is where Austria’s real quality lives: players trained for years in the Rangnick pressing mould. Against Algeria in Kansas City on June 27, in what could be the decisive match in this group, they will need to sustain that intensity for ninety minutes against a side that just proved it can impose itself on anyone.

The Debutants

Jordan play at a World Cup for the first time. Coach Jamal Sellami qualified them through the Asian path — Ali Olwan’s hat-trick sealing the result that ended decades of near-misses. Musa Al-Tamari, the Rennes forward, provides the attacking edge that defences will need to account for. Against Austria first, then Algeria, and finally Argentina in Dallas on June 27, Jordan carry the full weight of a nation’s first World Cup appearance.

The Lean

Argentina top the group — that is what the evidence supports, and Scaloni’s side do not need extraordinary football to confirm it. Second place belongs to the argument between Algeria and Austria: Petković’s organised quality versus Rangnick’s relentless structure. The match that decides it — Algeria vs Austria in Kansas City on June 27 — is the one to mark. Jordan will make their presence felt. They will not finish second. But on June 27 in Dallas, when Sellami’s side face the reigning world champions, the occasion is already theirs.

Tags: Argentina, wc26, austria, Algeria, Group J, Jordan