Argentina will enter the 2026 World Cup as the defending champion. Lionel Scaloni, who has won all three major titles available with Argentina (the 2021 and 2024 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup), will once again lead the team. It is very likely to be Lionel Messi’s final World Cup—a historic moment for world soccer. Group J, featuring Algeria, Austria, and Jordan, is manageable.

Coach Lionel Scaloni has named three goalkeepers for the World Cup: Emiliano Martínez, Gerónimo Rulli, and Juan Musso. Argentina will face Qatar, Egypt, and Canada in Group D and enters the tournament as the defending champion, aiming to become the first nation since Brazil in 1962 to successfully defend the World Cup title. The trio represents three career phases that could hardly be more different: the goalkeeper who won the title, a consistent Ligue 1 starter, and an Atlético Madrid reserve who won the Europa League in 2024.

Martínez is 33 years old, hails from Mar del Plata, and goes by the nickname "Dibu" at Aston Villa, a shortened form of his last name. His path has been anything but straightforward: ten years on loan from Arsenal, during which he was sent to ten different clubs, before he finally became a regular starter during the 2019–20 pandemic season and won the FA Cup. He joined Aston Villa for £20 million in 2020, setting a new club record with 15 clean sheets in his first season and being named Supporters’ Player of the Season. Since then, he has been one of the most reliable figures in the Premier League.

What sets him apart from almost every other goalkeeper in the world is his mental fortitude. At the 2022 World Cup, he saved two penalty kicks in the semifinal against the Netherlands, saved more in the final against France, and won the Golden Glove. At the 2024 Copa América, he made two saves in the penalty shootout of the final against Colombia and secured the title. He has won the FIFA Best Goalkeeper award twice. His total tally of titles for club and country stands at 15 trophies, most recently capped by the Europa League triumph with Aston Villa in May 2026, in which he kept a clean sheet in the final. He is dealing with a finger injury but, according to Scaloni, is a certainty for the tournament.

Rulli is 34 years old, hails from La Plata, and has had one of the most varied careers in Argentine goalkeeping. His journey has taken him from Estudiantes to Deportivo Maldonado, followed by six years with Real Sociedad in Spain, then Manchester City, Villarreal, Ajax, and, since August 2024, Olympique Marseille. There, he is putting in his most consistent performance in years this season: 29 Ligue 1 appearances, eight clean sheets, and a reliable presence in one of the league’s most attractive attacking systems. He was part of the 2022 World Cup-winning squad without playing, won the 2024 Copa América with Argentina, and brings the experience of a goalkeeper who knows almost every top European league from the inside. As the second-choice goalkeeper, he is Scaloni’s clear and completely uncontested choice behind Martínez.

Musso is 32 years old, was born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, and holds dual Argentine-Italian citizenship. His career has taken him through Racing Club, three years at Udinese, and four at Atalanta, where he won the Europa League against Bayer Leverkusen in May 2024. In August 2024, he joined Atlético Madrid on loan, and in the summer of 2025, the transfer was finalized with a three-year contract through 2028. The problem: Jan Oblak is the starting goalkeeper at Atlético, and Musso has made only eight league appearances this season. At the international level, he has been part of the Argentine squad since 2019 but has barely seen any tournament action. As the third-string goalkeeper, the 2026 World Cup will be his first real title run at this level.