As Messi Seeks Another Trophy, Soccer Fears for a Future Without Him

On Thursday in Atlanta, the Argentine national soccer team will kick off the 2024 edition of Copa América, South America’s biggest soccer championship, with a game against Canada. Fans around the world, but especially in Argentina, have been eagerly awaiting this day ever since their beloved squad, led by perhaps the greatest soccer player of all time, won the 2022 World Cup.

But when Lionel Messi, the Argentine captain and superstar, takes the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with his teammates as the favorites to defend their 2021 Copa América title, a simmering sadness will follow him.

Will this be the last time Mr. Messi, who turns 37 next week and said two years ago that it was his final World Cup, wears the blue and white Argentine uniform in a major tournament? Will this be the last time one of the most famous humans on Earth, who brought joy to many during unstable times in his homeland, represents his soccer-obsessed country?

“He’s already saying goodbye, with the interviews he’s been giving, it seems like he’s preparing us for it,” said Sergio Colque, 40, an electrician, as he waited to play in a recreational soccer match last weekend in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.

“He’s already saying goodbye,” Sergio Colque, an electrician, said of Mr. Messi.

Jonathan Icikson, 27, an ambulance dispatcher, was with friends outside a bar last week watching Argentina play against Guatemala in its final tuneup before Copa América. “The sadness, obviously, can’t be measured in words,” he said, “but not all endings are happy. All good things come to an end at some point.”