Claudio Tapia posted a pre-match photo on June 16, 2026 with Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul, putting Argentina’s old ritual back in view on the eve of its Mundial 2026 opener against Argelia. The image, shared as the delegation gathered over mates in the afternoon, came just before Tuesday’s 22:00 kickoff in Group J.
Tapia paired the picture with two messages that leaned hard into togetherness: “Más juntos que nunca.” and “TODOS JUNTOS 🧉🇦🇷Por mi bandera la vida yo doy 🎶🤞🏻”. It was another public sign that the same core figures who have long shaped Argentina’s pre-match routine were again assembled before a major tournament game, with Leandro Paredes still part of the wider conversation around that group even though this post did not name him.
The timing matters because Tapia’s tone lands in a very different setting from the one around him at home. He has been heavily criticized domestically and has faced judicial scrutiny over AFA matters, yet on this eve he was presenting the familiar image of unity alongside Messi and De Paul, a message meant to project calm before a high-pressure debut.
For Argentina, the ritual also carries memory. Tapia said the trio had resumed a tradition from Lionel Scaloni’s successful cycle, and the record behind that run is mixed enough to explain why the opening match still hangs over the delegation. Under Tapia, Argentina had not won its first World Cup match before this tournament: it drew 1-1 with Islandia in Russia 2018 and lost 2-1 to Arabia Saudita in the previous World Cup.
That is the contradiction at the center of the scene. The photo is meant to read as continuity and confidence, but it arrives with a federation president under pressure and with the first game of the tournament still carrying the weight of what happened in 2018 and 2022. Tapia is entering his third World Cup as AFA president, and this time the message is not just about mates and a post — it is about trying to turn a private ritual into a public sign that the cycle still holds.
Argentina was scheduled to face Argelia on Tuesday at 22 in the opening match of Group J, and the question left by the post is simple enough: whether the image of unity before kickoff can matter once the game begins.
