Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s Paths to the Final

There’s a good chance Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo bid farewell to FIFA World Cup football by colliding against one another at next year’s tournament, as Argentina and Portugal have learned their potential route to glory. The draw for the competition took place on Friday in Washington, D.C., and the world eagerly awaited to see the two all-time greats’ fates.

Messi and his Argentina side will defend the World Cup, starting in Group J when they take on Algeria, Austria and Jordan. Lionel Scaloni’s South American heavyweights should have little to no issue advancing from their group, although Ralf Rangnick’s Austrians pose the toughest test.

As for Ronaldo, he will look to finally get his hands on the one trophy that has evaded him in his storied career and will do so beginning in Group K. Uzbekistan, Colombia, and either New Caledonia, Jamaica, or DR Congo are the starting point for Roberto Martinez’s Portugal out in North America.

But will the world be able to witness one more chapter in the incredible rivalry between two of the best footballers to grace the planet before they likely retire from international football? Friday’s draw suggests that it is a real possibility should they both win their groups.

Argentina’s Potential Path To World Cup Glory

Messi will be eager to become a two-time world champion, and if his nation finishes top of Group J, they are likely to come up against the runner-up in Group H, which might be familiar faces: Uruguay.

A new seeding system used by FIFA was in play for Friday’s draw, meaning that if Argentina, ranked number one in the world, and Spain, ranked number two, both won their groups, they wouldn’t meet until the final.

Spain is joined in Group H by Uruguay, Cabo Verde and Saudi Arabia, and of those three nations, it seems most likely Marcelo Bielsa’s men will be the ones to advance in second place.

The Round of 16 could see Messi come up against fellow countryman Mauricio Pochettino, whose USA team are tipped to face Egypt in the prior round.

But a showpiece awaits should Scaloni’s world champions make it to the quarter-finals and Portugal finish top of their group and progress through the knockout rounds. The Messi versus Ronaldo final chapter could take place in the quarter-finals and it wouldn’t get any easier from there on out.

Argentina could then find themselves battling their South American rivals, Brazil or Thomas Tuchel’s England, in the semi-finals. Either one of those matches would make for a spectacle.

A final between the Argentines and Spain could be on the cards if Messi captains La Albiceleste to the final match of the tournament at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The world champions going toe-to-toe with the European champions is some way to for the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner to end his international story.

Portugal’s Potential Path To World Cup Glory

If Ronaldo is going to add a much-desired World Cup trophy to his glistening trophy cabinet, it will have to happen in North America next summer. Winning Group K will see Portugal face one of the best finishing third teams, which is anyone’s guess at this point.

Should Selecao das Quinas get the job done, they’d be expected to meet either the co-host nation, Canada, Switzerland, Qatar, or one of Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales, or Bosnia. A possible scrap with the Italians seems the tastiest of those possibilities.

Messi could then stand in his arch-nemesis’ way of potential World Cup glory in the quarter-finals. It’s been a long time coming.

A semi-final for the Portuguese could see them face either Brazil or England and Ronaldo knows all about getting one over the Three Lions in a major tournament.

A date with Spain then possibly awaits Ronaldo, who’d be hoping his side’s Nations League victory over Luis de la Fuente’s La Roja was the rehearsal. Imagine if the former Real Madrid hero becomes a world champion at the expense of the country where he housed four Champions League trophies.