After Copa America triumph, Lionel Messi heading to World Cup with positive outlook

 Lionel Messi, the captain of Argentina, stated that he is looking forward to the World Cup and thinks his team has a good chance of winning.

Messi, who will compete in his fifth World Cup in Qatar, says he is feeling upbeat before the competition.

Argentina will enter Qatar with a lot of confidence after defeating Brazil in the 2021 Copa America final; Messi believes this victory marked a turning point for his squad after a string of close calls.

In a World Cup, anything is possible, according to Messi. "Every match is incredibly challenging. Favorites don't always come out on top.

"I don't know if we're the front-runners, but Argentina has historically always been a contender. We are not the favorites, but this is now even more so because of the situation we are in. I believe that there are teams who are superior to us.

The 35-year-old attacker said that this will be his final World Cup and added that his physical condition was strong following a better preseason than the one he had last year when he transferred from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain.

The success Messi has had at the club level is in sharp contrast to his record with Argentina.

Three times, Argentina came within one victory of ending a lengthy trophy drought but was defeated by Germany in the World Cup final in 2014 and Chile in the Copa America finals in 2015 and 2016.

Messi stated, "I've been playing with the national team for a while now. Although we didn't win and received criticism for not being champions, there have been some magnificent moments, such as in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

It's been incredibly difficult, but in 2019, a new team with lots of young players arrived and won the Copa America, according to Messi. That was very helpful to us.

Since his 2005 debut for Argentina, Messi has earned 164 caps and is the nation's all-time leading scorer with 90 goals.

But the superstar acknowledged that he was anxious about the upcoming competition.

He stated, "There is nervousness and worry surrounding the World Cup. "We're eager for it to begin."

Messi made his international debut as a substitute against Hungary in 2005, although he only played for two minutes before he was dismissed. Nevertheless, he rapidly became a member of the national squad, and in 2006, he went to Germany for his first World Cup.

Later, he participated in the tournaments held in South Africa in 2010, Brazil in 2014, where Argentina advanced to the final, and Russia in 2018.

The current team has gone 35 games without a loss while being coached by Lionel Scaloni.

"Anything can happen," remarked Messi, "but we have reached a good point with a very well-equipped and very strong group.

Prior to taking on Saudi Arabia in their first match of the World Cup's group stage on November 22, Argentina will play its final pre-tournament match against the United Arab Emirates in November. There are two additional teams in Group C: Mexico and Poland.

On the largest international stage, Messi has frequently struggled to duplicate Argentine legend Diego Maradona, yet he was unexpectedly voted player of the tournament after his team lost 2014 final to Germany.

He only registered one goal during Argentina's final match in Russia four years ago, a 4-3 loss to eventual champion France in the round of 16, which came after an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Croatia in the group stage.

However, there are huge expectations for the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner to leave the World Cup in the Middle East on a good note.