Ronaldo and Messi kick off their World Cups with one last match potentially on the line

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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will begin what are likely their final World Cup campaigns this week, Argentina facing Algeria on Tuesday, Portugal taking on Congo on Wednesday. The two titans of modern soccer, who have defined the sport for nearly two decades, enter these tournaments with their legacies already secure but their competitive fire apparently undiminished. Neither has won a World Cup in their prime years, making these final chances potentially their last realistic shot at the game's grandest prize. The matches mark the beginning of the end for an era in which these rivals have pushed each other to extraordinary heights.