Chile vs. Argentina prediction, where to watch Lionel Messi, live stream: World Cup qualifying odds, lineups

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World Cup winners Argentina return to play on Thursday at Chile, where Lionel Messi could play his first game for the national team in seven months after dealing with injuries during the previous international break.

Considering Argentina already booked their spot at the 2026 World Cup in March, the focus of this month’s CONMEBOL qualifiers will be on Messi’s status as the countdown to next year’s competition begins. Messi, who turns 38 later this month, may have once said that it would be unlikely to see him at the World Cup because of his age, but his continuing involvement with the national team means there’s still a possibility that he will make the squad a year from now. Thursday’s match offers one of the first opportunities for Argentina to properly prepare for their showing as the defending champions, now that the work of qualifying is behind them.

They traveled to Santiago for Thursday’s match against hosts Chile, a team whose golden days are well and truly behind them. The 2015 and 2016 Copa America winners are currently bottom of South America’s 10-team qualifying table with just two wins and 10 points from 14 games, and they are ikely to miss out on the World Cup for a third successive time. Their qualification hopes have not been dashed just yet – they have four games to make up a five-point gap between them and seventh-place Venezuela, who sit in an intercontinental playoff spot. A loss on Thursday could make it impossible for them to overtake sixth-place Colombia, who sit in an automatic qualification spot but are 10 points ahead as things stand.

Here’s what you need to know before tuning in.

How to watch Chile vs. Argentina, odds

• Date: Thursday, June 5 | Time: 9 p.m. ET
• Location: Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez Predanos — Santiago, Chile
• Live stream: Fanatiz
• Odds: Chile +400; Draw +230; Argentina -130

Last meeting

The teams last met in September in Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires, where the hosts came out with a dominant 3-0 win. Alexis Mac Allister, Julian Alvarez and Paulo Dybala all scored for Argentina that day, doing just fine without Messi that day. Chile, meanwhile, registered just one shot on target over the course of the 90 minutes.

Will Lionel Messi play?

Seven months after his last game for Argentina, the big question facing manager Lionel Scaloni is whether Messi will make his return for the national team. Scaloni said in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday that he had yet to decide.

“I’ve been talking to him, we’ve continued talking, and we’ve been in touch recently,” Scaloni said, per TNT Sports. “Actually, for the match, it’s still undecided whether he’ll start or not. [I need] to talk to him, especially because it would be good to know how he’s doing physically. We’ve talked about a lot of things, but not that. It’s obvious, today we’re in a position to try other things, and in principle, he’s ready to play. Then we’ll assess whether he’s fit; he’s coming off a game last weekend. We’ll decide.”

Messi has played regularly for Inter Miami, playing 90 minutes in each of their last 15 games over the last two months, though minutes management has frequently been part of Messi’s routines in the last few years of his career.

Predicted lineups

Chile: Brayan Cortes, Felipe Loyola, Guillermo Maripan, Francisco Sierralta, Gabriel Suazo, Arturo Vida, Rodrigo Echeverría, Vicente Pizarro, Dario Osorio, Alexis Sanchez, Alexander Aravena

Argentina: Emiliano Martinez, Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico, Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernandez, Leandro Paredes, Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez

Player to watch

Julian Alvarez, Argentina: Messi has been in and out of Argentina’s squad through injuries over the course of this qualifying campaign, though it has afforded Scaloni a chance to prepare for life after the Ballon d’Or winner’s retirement. It means Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez has earned several chances to carve out a role on the national team, scoring three goals so far in qualifiers. The 25-year-old is coming off an impactful first season in Madrid with 29 goals across all competitions, making him an all-important attacking option for Argentina, not only in Messi’s absence during the qualifiers, but perhaps a valuable player at next summer’s World Cup when Argentina hope to defend their crown.

Storyline to watch

Argentina’s new look: With or without Messi, Scaloni has used the last few years to build an Argentina team that is less reliant on their star and skews younger. Experienced lineups are the default for Scaloni, but that’s because his 2021 Copa America and 2022 World Cup-winning teams featured several world-class players in their pre-peak years, many of whom have lived up to the hype since. Alvarez, for example, was a member of the 2021 and 2022 team and was also part of Argentina’s 2024 Copa America run, while the same is true for center back Cristian Romero. The 27-year-old is starting to emerge as one of his generation’s best defenders, complete with the distinction of being named the UEFA Europa League player of the season after his Tottenham Hotspur side won the whole thing. The next year will offer Scaloni a chance to fine-tune his talented roster, who are already in a strong position to compete at next year’s World Cup thanks to their valuable experiences with and without Messi.

Prediction

This game is Argentina’s to lose and even with very little at stake, the world champions will probably find a way to win with relative ease. That will likely be the case with or without Messi since Argentina have what it takes to beat a Chile side that have conceded 21 goals in 14 games during World Cup qualifying. Expect a healthy margin of victory, too, considering how lopsided the matchup is. Pick: Chile 0, Argentina 2

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