Twelve World Cup games. Twelve wins. Not a single defeat. That is the Alexis Mac Allister record, and it should make uncomfortable reading for anyone in England planning a route to the 2026 final. Here is the strange part: the 27-year-old is coming off the worst season of his Liverpool career, with his place in Arne Slot’s midfield no longer guaranteed — yet the moment he pulls on an Argentina shirt, he looks like a different footballer entirely. So which version turns up in North America next summer?
The paradox: fading at Anfield, untouchable for Argentina
Mac Allister is living two football lives. At Liverpool, this has been his hardest campaign since arriving in 2023 — output down, minutes contested, and a starting spot that is now genuinely up for debate. For Argentina, nothing has changed. He remains one of the first names Lionel Scaloni writes down.
It is worth remembering who he was on the day Liverpool sealed the 2025 Premier League title under Slot. As the final whistle went and his team-mates sprinted onto the pitch, Mac Allister sat alone on the bench and cried. That season, one of his goals produced a celebration inside Anfield that registered 1.74 on the Richter scale — just short of the 2.0 needed for a minor earthquake. A year on, the same man is searching for his game.
What actually changes? The job description. At club level he is asked to cover enormous ground in a physically brutal system. For Argentina, Scaloni hands him freedom in a structure that has barely changed since 2022. Same player, different instructions.
Why that unbeaten record matters to England
Twelve from twelve is not a quirk of scheduling. Mac Allister started the 2022 final in Lusail and belongs to a spine that already knows how to win a World Cup. That is precisely the currency England, for all their talent, still cannot spend.
Thomas Tuchel’s squad has caused plenty of noise at home — Phil Foden and Cole Palmer left out, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham carrying the load — and England open in Group L alongside Croatia. But the tournament question has never really been about England’s forwards. It is about whether their midfield can control a knockout game against opponents who have done it before.
If England and Argentina meet in 2026, it would come in the knockout rounds, and it would be settled in central midfield. Argentina have been fielding the same three men there for four years.
His Liverpool future: three realistic outcomes
The first is a bounce-back. At 27, a central midfielder is supposed to be entering his peak, not exiting it. A tactical tweak, a repositioning either side of the pivot, and the 2024-25 version returns. Slot has never publicly closed that door.
The second is an exit. Spanish clubs have monitored the situation, and a strong World Cup would send his valuation upwards fast. Selling a 27-year-old at maximum market value is a piece of business Liverpool have never been squeamish about.
The third — and by far the most likely until June — is nothing at all. Nobody makes a big decision in a World Cup year. Mac Allister’s incentive is simple: play, excel for Argentina, then negotiate from strength.
The wider lesson for reading the 2026 World Cup
There is a warning here for anyone building predictions from Premier League form tables. Club form is a poor predictor of international performance, and Mac Allister is the living proof. A player can drift through a grey season at Anfield and be decisive again after three training sessions with his country.
Argentina remain world champions and the 2022 core is largely intact: Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez, Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernández and Mac Allister. That block has won a World Cup together, and shared memory does not show up in a stats model.
For England fans, the takeaway is blunt. Do not judge Argentina by how their players are doing in Europe. Judge them by what happens when they play together — which is exactly when they are at their most dangerous.
FAQ
How many World Cup games has Mac Allister won?
Alexis Mac Allister has played 12 World Cup matches for Argentina and won every single one. He has never lost a game in the competition.
Why has his Liverpool season been so poor?
His output and minutes have dropped sharply compared with the 2025 Premier League title season under Arne Slot. He is no longer an automatic starter at club level, even though he remains undroppable for Argentina.
Will Mac Allister leave Liverpool before the 2026 World Cup?
It is unlikely. Neither the player nor the club has any incentive to settle his future before the tournament. Any transfer would more realistically be negotiated afterwards, once his World Cup performances have set his market value.
Could England face Argentina at the 2026 World Cup?
Only in the knockout stage. England are in Group L and Argentina are in a different group, so the two would have to progress through the bracket to meet.
What is Mac Allister’s best position?
He is a central midfielder who can play as a holding six or a box-to-box eight. Liverpool have often used him as the deeper pivot, while Scaloni gives him a freer role for Argentina — which partly explains the gap in his output between club and country.
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