Lionel Scaloni doesn’t care about the miss column. The Argentina head coach confirmed on July 11 that Lionel Messi will continue as the team’s primary penalty taker heading into their 2026 World Cup quarterfinal, despite the 38-year-old having missed his last two attempts from the spot in the tournament.
“Leo will take penalties if he wants to,” Scaloni said in a press conference, effectively ending any debate before it started.
The Messi effect on fan tokens
Messi holds a promotional partnership with Socios.com valued at over $20 million, signed back in 2022. Socios is the platform behind fan tokens for major sports teams, including the Argentina national team’s $ARG token.
The $ARG fan token has seen a price increase of 12.4% correlated to Messi’s World Cup goal-scoring performances during the tournament.
