Lionel Messi made more World Cup history as his 80th-minute free-kick helped Argentina maintain their perfect Group J record with a 3-1 victory over Jordan at Dallas Stadium.
Match Report
Lionel Messi made more World Cup history as his 80th-minute free-kick helped Argentina maintain their perfect Group J record with a 3-1 victory over Jordan at Dallas Stadium.
Having already secured top spot in the group and a date with Cape Verde in the last 32, Messi started as a substitute, but was still able to make an impact off the bench.
Messi became the first player to score in seven World Cup appearances in a row, while also netting his sixth goal of the tournament to pull clear in the race for the Golden Boot.
Nicolas Otamendi, wearing the captain's armband in place of Messi from the start, headed the game's first opportunity over the crossbar from Giovani Lo Celso's corner, with the latter opening the scoring in the 19th minute.
After Lo Celso was fouled on the edge of the penalty area by Mohannad Abu Taha, the Real Betis midfielder dusted himself down and fired the resulting free-kick past Yazeed Abulaila and into the top-left corner on his World Cup debut.
Argentina's pressure continued, but Lautaro Martinez could only turn Nicolas Tagliafico's cross onto the woodwork before Abulaila did brilliantly to keep out Marcos Senesi on the rebound, but Lionel Scaloni's side were awarded a penalty for the incident.
Nizar Al Rashdan's high boot caught new Tottenham defender Senesi on his head as he stooped down to make contact with the ball, and referee Istvan Kovacs awarded the spot-kick after a VAR review as Martinez sent Abulaila the wrong way from 12 yards out.
Otamendi and Julian Alvarez both came close to increasing Argentina's advantage before the break and Martinez struck the crossbar again early in the second half, but as Messi was preparing to enter the action, Jordan halved the deficit when substitute Mousa Al Tamari turned in Ehsan Haddad's inch-perfect delivery.
However, the result was sealed with another moment of individual brilliance from Messi. After skipping past Amer Jamous and winning a free-kick, the Argentina number 10 curled the set-piece around the Jordan wall and into the net for his record-extending 19th World Cup goal.
Martinez ends World Cup drought while Lo Celso enjoys dream debut
Scaloni confirmed ahead of kick-off that Messi, who had scored five goals in Argentina's opening two matches at the World Cup, would start on the bench against Jordan, and both Martinez and Lo Celso stepped up in his absence.
Lo Celso got the ball rolling with a stunning strike, becoming the first Argentina player to score on his World Cup debut since Martin Palermo against Greece in 2010, while also becoming the second Argentine player to score a direct free-kick at the World Cup in the 21st century, after Messi against Nigeria 12 years ago.
Martinez, meanwhile, netted his first World Cup goal in what was his ninth appearance in the competition and with his 17th shot. It was his 38th goal for Argentina, making him the nation's fourth-highest goalscorer.
But Messi, of course, had to have his say. After celebrating his 39th birthday earlier this week, he is only the second Argentinean to play in a World Cup match aged 39, after Angel Labruna in 1958 (two games).
His brilliant finish also saw Argentina become the fourth team since 1966 to score multiple direct free-kick goals in a World Cup match after Japan (vs. Denmark in 2010), Yugoslavia (vs. Congo DR in 1974) and Brazil (vs. Bulgaria in 1966).
But after being given a scare by Jordan, Argentina were deserved victors here. They finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.13 from their 12 shots to their opponents tally of 0.74 from their five attempts.
Line-ups
Jordan XI: Ehsan Haddad, Yazeed Abulaila, Yazan Al-Arab, Noor Al-Rawabdeh, Ali Olwan, Nizar Al-Rashdan, Abdallah Nasib, Mohannad Abu Taha, Husam Abu Dahab, Ali Al-Azaizah, Odeh Fakhoury
Subs: Rajaei Ayed, Mohammad Al-Dawoud, Mahmoud Al-Mardi, Noor Bane Ataya, Mousa Tamari, Saleem Obaid, Abdallah Al-Fakhouri, Mohammad Abualnadi, Mohammad Abu Zrayq, Ibrahim Saadeh, Saed Al-Rousan, Mohammad Abu Hasheesh, Amer Jamous, Mohammad Abu Ghoush, Anas Badawi
Argentina XI: Otamendi, E. Martinez, Tagliafico, Paredes, Lo Celso, Exequiel Palacios, Lautaro, Marcos Senesi, Alvarez, Giuliano Simeone, Nico Paz
Subs: Messi, Gerónimo Rulli, De Paul, Musso, Gonzalo Montiel, Molina, Cristian Romero, N. Gonzalez, Mac Allister, Facundo Medina, Lisandro Martinez, Thiago Almada, Enzo, Flaco López, Valentín Barco
Naga_Manu
164
LIONEL MESSI FREE KICK! THE LONGEST SCORING STREAK IN WORLD CUP HISTORY (7) 🐐
Davichi
147
A smart free kick goal resulting in a couple of records. Messi increases his tally as the top scorer in WC history to 19 goals and he's the first footballer to score in 7 consecutive WC matches. The GOAT for many reasons.
GobindaRanaXettri
117
🚨🐐 WORLD CUP HISTORY! Lionel Messi has now scored in 7 consecutive FIFA World Cup matches. A new all-time World Cup record. Another match. Another piece of history written by the greatest.
Lauralee
95
No Messi and Barcelona fan will skip without liking
Nam_So
94
FIRST EVER PLAYER TO SCORE IN 7 CONSECUTIVE WORLD CUP GAMES 🐐🐐🐐🐐
Naga_Manu
86
Messi's wife and son's reactions to him subbing on 🥹
AdamParker1980
79
30 minutes of messi better than CR7s whole World Cup
podinptuyz
71
Messi is better than Ronaldo almost in every major aspect of football including goal scoring. Some Ronaldo fans don't understand this because they think Ronaldo is better because he has more goals than Messi currently. That should not make anyone blind.The only reason why Ronaldo currently has more goals than Messi is just because of more games played. If we put in ratio, Messi is ahead of Ronaldo in goal scoring. Messi is better than Ronaldo in almost all major aspects of football like goal scoring, assisting, passing, dribbling, creativity, ball control, etc. Messi has more trophies than Ronaldo. Messi has more major individual awards than Ronaldo. But we can leave out individual awards because some people can doubt them. Let's stick to aspects of football. Now if Messi is better than Ronaldo in goal scoring, assisting, passing, dribbling, creativity, ball control, etc., what makes a reasonable person to think that Ronaldo is better than Messi? Imagine Messi has more goals against the top five EPL teams than Ronaldo and yet Messi didn't play in EPL. That alone is an embarrassment to anyone who thinks that Ronaldo is better than Messi. Messi lifted Inter Miami from bottom to top in a very short time with little investment. He turned the team from nothing to something. On the other hand, Ronaldo joined Al Nassr which was already a big team but they struggled to win trophies even with the very huge investment. Ronaldo is 🤞 to be compared to Messi. There shouldn't even be a debate. Messi is not Ronaldo's mate. I think the only reason why there is noise about Ronaldo being the goat 🐐 is just because of large numbers of fans of Madrid and Man U. Madrid is the most popular football club in the world followed by Barcelona and Man U is the third. Now you can imagine the support from the first and the third. That is the only reason why Ronaldo is still talked about in the goat 🐐 debate just because of untruthful fans. Even the official website of Real Madrid says that their greatest player of all time is Alfredo di Stefano, not Ronaldo. Now if Ronaldo is not the greatest at Real Madrid where he has most of his achievements, then why should a well-reasoning person call him the goat in the whole world? We should all agree that Messi is the undisputed 🐐 GOAT. That doesn't mean that Ronaldo is not great. Ronaldo is great but not the greatest. There is only one Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) and that is Messi..
Lauralee
66
First they started comparing Messi with Pele and Maradona. Later it was Cristaino Ronaldo. Now it’s Mbappe and Haaland, even Yamal. One man, different generations of competitors. This is very insane of this GOAT
Alfredkoiyan
48
Leo Messi Is the first player to score in seven (7) world cup games in row
Naga_Manu
31
Messi has scored more World Cup goals since turning 35 than Ronaldo since his birth 😭
Ayjazz1997
26
After praying to God in the midnight 🕛 Only Messi can keep me awake in the Night Special Gem 💎
xcphantom
21
Greatest of all time.
podinptuyz
15
Messi is better than Ronaldo almost in every major aspect of football including goal scoring. Some Ronaldo fans don't understand this because they think Ronaldo is better because he has more goals than Messi currently. That should not make anyone blind.The only reason why Ronaldo currently has more goals than Messi is just because of more games played. If we put in ratio, Messi is ahead of Ronaldo in goal scoring. Messi is better than Ronaldo in almost all major aspects of football like goal scoring, assisting, passing, dribbling, creativity, ball control, etc. Messi has more trophies than Ronaldo. Messi has more major individual awards than Ronaldo. But we can leave out individual awards because some people can doubt them. Let's stick to aspects of football. Now if Messi is better than Ronaldo in goal scoring, assisting, passing, dribbling, creativity, ball control, etc., what makes a reasonable person to think that Ronaldo is better than Messi? Imagine Messi has more goals against the top five EPL teams than Ronaldo and yet Messi didn't play in EPL. That alone is an embarrassment to anyone who thinks that Ronaldo is better than Messi. Messi lifted Inter Miami from bottom to top in a very short time with little investment. He turned the team from nothing to something. On the other hand, Ronaldo joined Al Nassr which was already a big team but they struggled to win trophies even with the very huge investment. Ronaldo is 🤞 to be compared to Messi. There shouldn't even be a debate. Messi is not Ronaldo's mate. I think the only reason why there is noise about Ronaldo being the goat 🐐 is just because of large numbers of fans of Madrid and Man U. Madrid is the most popular football club in the world followed by Barcelona and Man U is the third. Now you can imagine the support from the first and the third. That is the only reason why Ronaldo is still talked about in the goat 🐐 debate just because of untruthful fans. Even the official website of Real Madrid says that their greatest player of all time is Alfredo di Stefano, not Ronaldo. Now if Ronaldo is not the greatest at Real Madrid where he has most of his achievements, then why should a well-reasoning person call him the goat in the whole world? We should all agree that Messi is the undisputed 🐐 GOAT. That doesn't mean that Ronaldo is not great. Ronaldo is great but not the greatest. There is only one Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) and that is Messi.
Naga_Manu
12
🚨 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋: 𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐂𝐔𝐏 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐗 Messi scores his 6th goal from outside the box and surpasses Rivelino's record of 5 goals.