Batistuta urges Argentina to take World Cup knockout round seriously

Gabriel Batistuta said Argentina had to treat the knockout rounds with seriousness, and the timing made the warning sharper: the 2026 World Cup had opened with 48 teams, 104 matches and a new Round of 32 before the traditional last 16. In a tournament that widened the path for more nations, Argentina’s edge still looked obvious after a 2-0 win over Austria, but the expanded format left less room for any favorite to coast.

Lionel Messi scored both goals against Austria on June 22, 2026, and took his World Cup total to 18, moving past Miroslav Klose as the tournament’s all-time scoring leader. Argentina reached 6 points and still had to settle first place in Group J against Jordan in Dallas, Texas, on June 27. The result placed Lionel Scaloni’s side into the new knockout phase with the kind of form that Batistuta believes should not be taken lightly, even for a squad built around Messi, Lautaro Martínez and Julián Álvarez.

Batistuta’s caution fit the demands of the format. FIFA’s revised bracket sends the first- and second-place finishers from each of the 12 groups into a Round of 32, then on to the Round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. That structure gives elite teams more chances to advance, but it also raises the cost of any lapse once the elimination games begin, especially against opponents whose margins for error are much smaller than Argentina’s.

The former striker had already argued on June 3 that this Argentina side looked “better” than the one that won the 2022 World Cup, pointing to the squad’s four additional years of experience and the stability of Scaloni’s coaching staff. He also said Messi was motivated to play a sixth World Cup. Messi turned 39 on June 24, a milestone that only deepened the sense that Argentina’s run was entering its most delicate phase.

Batistuta’s own record still gives his warning weight. FIFA lists him with 10 goals in 12 World Cup matches, second among Argentina scorers behind Messi, and notes that he remains the only player to have scored hat-tricks in two different editions of the tournament. The last edition with a 32-team field was 1998, when the World Cup had 64 matches, a useful measure of how much larger and more demanding the modern competition has become.