Who: Argentina vs Algeria
What: FIFA World Cup 2026 Group J match
Where: Kansas City Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri, United States
When: Tuesday, 8pm (01:00 GMT on Wednesday)
How to follow: Keep up with all updates on Al Jazeera Sport

We might be six days into World Cup 2026, but many purists feel the tournament isn’t truly under way until the defending champions, Argentina, and their iconic star Lionel Messi, take to the stage.

After winning the Qatar World Cup in 2022 in one of the most dramatic games in history, Argentina begin their quest for a fourth title when they face Algeria in their opening Group J fixture at Kansas City on Tuesday night.

Can ageing Argentina win back-to-back World Cup titles?

Lionel Scaloni’s side are seeking to become just the third nation ever to defend a World Cup title after Italy (wins in 1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962).

This has been a golden era of Argentinian football with Copa America wins either side of their Qatar 2022 success, but nobody is quite sure what we’re going to get from La Albiceleste this time around. Are key players in decline? Is the hunger still there after a period of domination?

Argentina are no stranger to slow starts, having lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia en route to their third World Cup triumph four years ago. However, a group containing Algeria, Austria and Jordan should give them a good opportunity to ease into the tournament.

While Messi is set to make history on Tuesday as the first man to appear in six World Cups, the star forward – who turns 39 on June 24 – and has been plagued by injury niggles. Elsewhere on the team, centre back Cristian Romero is likely to be rusty after missing the end of the Premier League season with Tottenham Hotspur after a knee injury.

There’s plenty of team continuity with 17 players from the victorious Qatar 2022 squad back to defend their crown. Argentina’s average player age of 29 is one of the highest in the tournament, and it remains to be seen if the 2026 edition represents another golden opportunity to add to the South American nation’s storied World Cup history or if the team is already on the downside.

Algeria aiming to turn heads at World Cup

Gone are the days when North African teams could be written off as a routine three points for global powerhouses.

The Fennecs are not heading to World Cup 2026 and trying to sneak a third-place finish as they did in their last World Cup appearance in 2014 when they took eventual winners Germany to extra time. This time, Algeria – the 2019 AFCON winners – qualified for the tournament with a record eight wins and are aiming for direct entry into the knockout stage.

Inspirational captain Riyad Mahrez will lead his team into the 2026 campaign and remains a key player for the North African nation. Algeria fans are excited by the attacking potential of 20-year-old Leverkusen forward Ibrahim Maza, who is looking to make a name for himself on the biggest stage and is known as “Mazadona” in his country.

Wolfsburg striker Mohamed Amoura led the scoring in African qualifying with 10 goals and four assists while Man City’s Rayan Ait-Nouri is a key player on the left flank, and Algeria have been well drilled by Bosnian coach Vladimir Petkovic, who enjoyed success with Switzerland.

How does the group stage work?

Argentina, Algeria, Austria and Jordan are in Group J.

They will play each other once in the initial stage of the tournament. The top two teams from each of the 12 groups – along with the eight best third-placed teams – will proceed to the next phase, the round of 32, which has been introduced at the World Cup for the first time.

The winners of Group J will face the runners-up in Group H. After Spain’s opening game draw against Cape Verde, that means an Argentina vs Spain clash in the round of 32 is not out of the equation.

While facing the defending champions in their opening game is a high-profile start, Algerian fans have their sights set on their final group game against Austria in Kansas City on June 27.

It offers the chance to settle a score 44 years in the making after Austria played out a low-key 1-0 defeat against West Germany in the final group game in Spain in 1982, a result that ensured both sides went through at the expense of Algeria, who had played the previous day.

The game became known as “the Disgrace of Gijon” and led to final group matches being played simultaneously.

Head-to-head

This will be just the second meeting of these sides. The previous one came in a friendly 19 years ago when Messi scored his first international double in a 4-3 win for Argentina played in his familiar confines of the Camp Nou in Barcelona.

Form guide:

(Last five games, latest first)

Argentina: W-W-W-W-W

Algeria: W-W-D-W-L

Argentina cruised through qualifying, finishing nine points clear of second-placed Ecuador to top the table for the first time since 2014, but their warm-up games have hardly offered a stern test with wins against Mauritania, Zambia, Honduras and Iceland.

After qualifying in style, Algeria are coming into the tournament with confidence, overcoming the Netherlands and Bolivia in their final warm-up matches after having thrashed Guatemala and played out a goalless draw with Uruguay in March. They have conceded only twice in their past six matches.

Team news

Messi has overcome hamstring issues and will captain the side during his 200th international appearance and record 27th at the World Cup. He becomes the first man to play at six World Cups although old rival Cristiano Ronaldo could match that mark less than 24 hours later.

Emi Martinez, hero of the 2022 final, has recovered from a broken finger and will be in jersey #1 (although he usually wears #23), but left back Nicolas Tagliafico will miss the game (calf injury), and Scaloni will have a decision to make about whether to start fit-again Cristian Romero, Nicolas Otamendi or Lisandro Martinez in central defence.

Algeria are set to miss defender Ramy Bensebaini (ankle), but goalkeeper Luca Zidane – the son of famous France player Zinedine – has recovered from a broken jaw in time to start.

Argentina’s predicted XI: E Martinez (goalkeeper); Molina, Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Medina; De Paul, Fernandez, Mac Allister, Almada; Messi, Lautaro Martinez

Algeria’s predicted XI: Zidane (goalkeeper); Belghali, Mandi, Chergui, Ait-Nouri; Bentaleb, Boudaoui; Mahrez, Maza, Amoura; Gouiri

Who is the favourite to win the match?

History favours the South Americans. Argentina have won each of their last six World Cup matches against African opponents, rebounding from their shock 1-0 defeat to Cameroon in 1990, which happens to coincide with the last time they entered the tournament as reigning champions.

Algeria, meanwhile, have enjoyed mixed fortunes against South American sides at the tournament, beating Chile in 1982 before losing to Brazil four years later.

Opta’s supercomputer predicted Argentina would make a winning start in Group J. After 25,000 simulations, Scaloni’s side emerged victorious 68.2 percent of the time. Algeria were given a 13.2 percent chance of causing an upset while a draw was the outcome in 18.6 percent of the projections.

You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated FIFA World Cup 2026 page with all the latest news, match build-up and live text commentary and keep up to date with group standings, real-time match results and schedules.