Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo may miss FIFA World Cup

The players will not only lose the pleasure of watching Argentina's star, Messi, and his Portuguese rival, Ronaldo, in their absence from the World Cup, but also lose hundreds of millions of dollars.

If Argentina and Portugal do not qualify for the 2018 World Cup, FIFA will lose large amounts of money that will not be paid by the sponsors, the Daily Mirror reported.

FIFA leaders seem to be very concerned about the situation. In the absence of senior stars, as a result of their lack of qualification, many viewers will close their televisions and will not watch the matches.

Argentina drew 0-0 with Peru and dropped to sixth place in the South American qualifying, facing the specter of absence from the finals of Russia.

Argentina will try to salvage the situation when they host Ecuador on Tuesday and have to win the game so as not to miss Messi, who is 30 years old at the World Cup.

If Argentina wins, they will at least secure the fifth place, which qualifies for the match against New Zealand.

But Portugal's position is better than Argentina. In the second European group, Switzerland lead the standings after scoring the full mark, with 27 points from nine matches, needing only a draw.

Portugal, who have 24 points and a big lead, will lead their group if they beat Switzerland on Tuesday.

The leaders of the nine teams in the European qualifiers qualify directly to the World Cup, while the top eight teams are in second place, a round of two round-trip matches for four more seats.

No matter who finishes the Group B runners-up in second place, they will qualify for the competition.