Argentina's Post-Messi Era Begins Now: Who Inherits World Cup Throne?

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The ending was ugly in every language.

Argentina lost the World Cup final 1-0 to Spain, and the scoreline flattered them. The defending champions went 120 minutes without a single shot on goal. They brought fight instead of football, and when the fight was all that remained, it spilled over: Enzo Fernández was sent off in stoppage time, Leandro Paredes received a red card after the whistle for grabbing Eric García by the throat, Nahuel Molina swung at Rodri, and the entire squad turned its back while Spain lifted the trophy.

The only man who left the final with his dignity intact was Lionel Messi, shaking every Spanish hand with tears on his face.

Which brings us to the conversation nobody in Buenos Aires wants to have. Messi's next birthday is his 40th. He delivered just eight goals and four assists at age 39, dragged this team to a final almost by himself, and still wasn't enough. He is not eternal, no matter how hard he keeps pretending otherwise. It's time to imagine an Argentina without him, because that Argentina arrives whether anyone is ready or not.

Start up front, where the succession is easiest. Julián Álvarez is the heir, full stop. His thunderbolt against Switzerland was the goal of Argentina's tournament not scored by a 39-year-old, and with Barcelona currently pressing Atlético Madrid on a bid with a July 31 deadline, his club platform is about to get even bigger. He'll be 30 in 2030, smack in his prime, and Lautaro Martínez's clutch finishing can carry the bridge years alongside him.

The harder question is who creates. This World Cup exposed a team starved of invention whenever Messi rested, and the answer was sitting on the bench in a Como kit. Nico Paz (a player who we should keep tabs on for 2030) got one start, against Jordan, and looked like the only Argentine besides the captain who sees passes before they exist. That elegant left foot needs 90 minutes a game starting in September, not cameos. Lionel Scaloni protected the old guard this cycle. The next one has to be built around the kid born on the Spanish island of Tenerife to former Argentina international Pablo Paz.

Nico Paz, playing for Argentina. (Photo by Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Then there's the player who wasn't even there. Franco Mastantuono, Real Madrid's teenager, was Scaloni's most controversial omission, reportedly omitted because he occupies the same spaces Messi does. Well, those spaces are about to be vacant. He'll be 22 when the 2030 World Cup kicks off, with four full seasons at the Bernabéu (or elsewhere) behind him, and everything to prove to a country that told him he wasn't needed just yet. Those players tend to arrive with a chip on their shoulder. Good.

Real Madrid's Franco Mastantuono was a notable omission. (Photo by Federico Peretti/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Fringe players like Facundo Buonanotte, who comes from Rosario's talent pipeline, could start featuring with more consistent club performances. Argentina's problem in this final wasn't heart. It was ideas. They lacked pure technical ability across the board.

The backline needs the same honesty. Marcos Senesi only made this tournament as an injury replacement for Leonardo Balerdi, which is criminal for a defender who plays out of pressure as calmly as he does and just had a big money move to Tottenham. Nicolás Otamendi and Cristian Romero's partnership has one more cycle at most, and probably less. Feature Senesi now.

Marcos Senesi will a defender for the future. (Photo by Steph Chambers – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Same for Valentín Barco, whose highlight during the World Cup was getting slapped in the back of the head by Jude Bellingham; he made the squad but barely sniffed the field. Jokes aside, he's exactly the kind of progressive, young, ball-playing fullback this team lacked when Spain squeezed them into oblivion.

Here's the uncomfortable truth Sunday created: Argentina didn't just lose a final. They looked old, and then they acted small. The scenes after the whistle were the tantrum of a team that knows its era is ending and has no plan for what comes next.

The talent for the plan exists. Álvarez, Paz, Mastantuono, Senesi, Barco and even Claudio Echeverri (part of the Manchester City system and now on loan to Girona). What's missing is the courage to start the transition before Messi makes it mandatory.

The king is still on his throne. But somebody should really start building the next one.