A caramel-brown bag stitched with the player’s name, the Argentine Football Association crest and the World Cup logo.
Inside, a gold Stanley thermos carrying Lionel Messi’s own brand mark, a mate cup, a metal bombilla straw and a packet of yerba.
Messi handed one to every member of Argentina’s 2026 World Cup squad, a private gesture that only reached the outside world when Kelci-Rose Bowers, partner of Tottenham defender Marcos Senesi, posted a video of the set on social media.
“I have to show you guys something really cool. You will be very happy to see this. Marcos brought this bag from the camp. It also has his name written on it. This is his mate set. Messi gave this gift to all the players,” Bowers said as she unpacked Senesi’s version for her followers.
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A daily ritual in an Argentine dressing room
Mate is not a luxury in an Argentine dressing room. It is a routine, passed around during training and travel, and the choice of gift said as much about how Messi read his squad as any team talk. Each set was built to be used at breakfast, not put on a shelf.
Senesi, who joined Tottenham on a free transfer this summer after leaving Bournemouth, was one of 26 players who found the personalised bag waiting for him.
The final that shaped the gesture
The gifts arrived in the wake of Argentina’s 1-0 extra-time defeat to Spain on 19 July, with Ferran Torres scoring in the 106th minute to deny them back-to-back world titles.
Messi has form for these post-tournament gestures. After Argentina won in Qatar in 2022, he handed teammates and staff personalised gold iPhones engraved with each recipient’s name. This time there was no trophy, only a defeat, and the gift arrived anyway.
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Back at work in Fort Lauderdale
Two weeks of silence followed the final. Messi returned to competition on Saturday, coming off the bench in the 53rd minute as Inter Miami drew 2-2 with Columbus Crew in MLS. He twice shot wide but could not mark his return with a goal.
His Argentina teammates have now scattered back to their clubs across Europe, each with a small brown bag and a gold thermos to remind them what they were part of.
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