Argentina must avoid ‘complacency’ at World Cup 2026, Tagliafico warns

With 74 caps for Argentina under his belt, Nicolás Tagliafico laments the cancellation of the Finalissima against Spain and cites “complacency” as the main challenge facing the defending champions as they aim to retain their title at the 2026 World Cup in North America.

In an interview at Olympique Lyon’s training ground in Décines-Charpieu, the 33-year-old left-back took stock of the Albiceleste and its readiness ahead of the June 11 to July 19 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

In the final international window before the tournament, Argentina face friendlies against Mauritania on March 27 and Zambia on March 31, both at La Bombonera in Buenos Aires, 

Tagliafico could draw level with Juan Pablo Sorín, who has 75 caps, as the left-back with the most appearances for the three-time world champions.

We’re entering an international window marked by the cancellation of the Finalissima. Are you among those who think it’s better to save the big battles for the World Cup, or would you have liked to play it?

As footballers, our greatest desire is to play big matches – the tougher they are, the better. Obviously, you can lose or win, it’s football, but having that kind of match is always beneficial, in terms of experience, your record and memories. In the end, no agreement was reached, so now we have to focus on the World Cup.

Argentina are defending their title with the core of the 2022 title-winning side, aided by a crop of highly talented young players. Where do you think the team stands?

I think there’s a mix of younger players, perhaps with less experience, but with great desire and a real hunger to wear the national team shirt. I see the team in good shape – although sometimes you can feel it relaxes a bit, in competitions like these the team returns to giving its maximum and becomes fully motivated again.”

When you talk about relaxing, do you mean not playing high-level matches during international windows?

It often happens that when you have friendlies of this kind – without underestimating anyone – you end up knowing that you work harder day-to-day in training with your teammates than in the friendly itself. So I think that’s the key: training sessions need to be very intense, and I believe that’s what led us to become world champions. It’s also true that it’s not easy to train at that level of intensity five days a week, and sometimes you do start to relax a bit.

From Qatar, a World Cup held essentially in one city, to the 2026 edition spread across the United States, Mexico and Canada, with an extra match to play (Round of 32) to become champions. How does that change the approach and preparation?

It’s something to think about, because as well as being a bit longer – maybe five or six more days – you have to stay focused on the details. From the travel to the places where we’ll train and play, nothing has really been discussed yet about how it will all work… 

We know we’ll be based in Kansas [Argentina’s base camp], but beyond that nothing else is known… 

There’s also another decisive match, and in the Round of 32 you might have the misfortune of a small detail knocking you out. It’s a different World Cup, with many more teams, and I think everything will be even more evenly matched.

Are you aware within the group that a second consecutive World Cup, along with the two Copa América titles (2021 and 2024), would place Messi’s Argentina as a potential greatest team in history?

Two consecutive World Cups is something only Brazil and Italy have done, but a long time ago… 

It’s a dream, just like the dream we had of winning one, but we have to try to stay focused day by day, match by match, and not get carried away with that, because in the end the day-to-day work is what will bring results.

At Lyon you share a dressing room with Endrick, who has been called up again by Brazil. How has he adapted? He’s received praise but also criticism for being too direct in his play…

Obviously he has his ups and downs, like the team in general, but he’s adapted very well. I think he didn’t get much playing time at Real Madrid, so here, by playing much more, you can see the quality he has – sometimes with good decisions, sometimes with bad ones… 

He’s young, and in trying to show all that enthusiasm and quality, he can make mistakes. It’s normal.