ATLANTA -- Where would Argentina be without Lionel Messi? On a flight back to Buenos Aires probably, with the FIFA World Cup trophy heading in a different direction to FIFA's New York headquarters at Trump Tower, waiting to be handed to a new owner on July 19.
But the most desired trophy in football is still in Argentina's possession thanks to the greatest player who ever lived.
The debate over football's GOAT will never be settled conclusively in one player's favor -- Pelé, Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo all have their die-hard supporters -- but this World Cup really is proving once and for all that Messi has no equal.
Still skeptical? Just ask Egypt, or even the Cape Verde players who took Argentina to the limit in their 3-2 round-of-32 defeat in Miami last Friday.
Egypt thought they had secured a historic victory. Inspired by Mohamed Salah, Hossam Hassan's team was 2-0 ahead with little more than 10 minutes to go and on the brink of eliminating the defending champions.
But then Messi stepped forward. The 39-year-old had missed a first-half penalty and been quiet throughout the game, but just when his team needed him, he found the extra gear that only he has to create a goal for Cristian Romero before leveling the scores five minutes later with his eighth goal of this World Cup.
He left it late, but Messi came to Argentina's rescue. Again.
The Inter Miami forward has now scored in each of his past nine World Cup games -- a record -- and he stretched his lead as the all-time leading World Cup scorer with 21 goals, two more than France's Kylian Mbappé.
But as brilliant and untouchable as Messi is, how good are Argentina? Do they rely too much on Messi? Have they had an easy ride to reach the quarterfinals? And if not Messi, who will step up to win a game against the formidable opponents that block their path to a second successive World Cup triumph?
The irony of all of those questions is that they are the mirror image of those being asked of Portugal and Ronaldo, Messi's career-long rival for the biggest club and personal honors. Portugal may have done so much better than their round-of-16 exit had Ronaldo not been in their team at this tournament, but Argentina have been all about Messi thanks to his eight goals.
But let's not hide from the fact that they have had an enviable route to this stage of the competition.
Group opponents Austria, placed 23rd in the FIFA world rankings, are the highest-ranked opponent Argentina have faced in a run of five games that has seen them play three African nations -- Algeria (ranked 29th), Cape Verde (65th) and Egypt (24th) -- the Austrians and Jordan (73rd). Argentina's quarterfinal opponents Switzerland (15th) will be tough, but once again, not a top-10 team.
So we may have to wait until the semifinal, if they face England (4th), or the final itself against France (1st), Spain (3rd), Morocco (6th) or Belgium (8th), before Messi and Argentina are tested by a team in the top of the rankings. That's the luck of the draw, but eventually, Argentina and Messi will have to show that they can perform against an elite opponent, and only then will we really know how good they are.
There are no doubts about Messi's match-winning capabilities, but anyone who witnessed his career appearing to fizzle out in the UEFA Champions League during his two years at Paris Saint-Germain will tell you that his age was beginning to show against the very best teams and defenses. That is why Argentina need to prove that they have a Plan B, because even though they would like to, they can't rely on Messi to save them every time that they play.
This is a team that has conceded five goals in three games against Jordan, Cape Verde and Egypt, but it won't be so easy to win against the top teams if they continue to give up so many goals.
Lautaro Martínez is a prolific goal scorer for Inter Milan in Serie A, but he has registered just two goals in seven games for Argentina this year, against the might of Honduras and Jordan.
Julián Álvarez, a player who could leave Atlético Madrid in a £100 million-plus transfer this summer, has managed just one goal in seven games in 2026, scoring against Zambia in March. The former Manchester City forward's recent record is one goal in his past 12 games, so Argentina really need Messi to keep on scoring.
Maybe he will. The former Barcelona star is as good as there has ever been and continues to prove that he has magic in his boots. But eventually, there are no more rabbits to pull out of a hat, and when it stops, Argentina need to have something else up their sleeve.