Arlington, Jun 28: Lionel Messi didn’t have much time to try to become the first to score in seven consecutive World Cup games.
Argentina’s superstar did it anyway as a second-half substitute.
Messi made it seven straight while extending the all-time men’s World Cup scoring record with his 19th goal in Argentina’s 3-1 victory over Jordan in a group stage finale on Saturday night.
In his first match since turning 39 three days earlier, Messi scored on a free kick after being taken down just outside the penalty box in the 80th minute. The low kick barely above the grass surface split two Jordan defenders into the left corner of the net.
It was his 72nd career goal on a free kick, including his 12th for Argentina. Messi now has 123 international goals — second all-time to Cristiano Ronaldo’s 145 — in 202 appearances.
Messi had been one of only three players to score in six consecutive World Cup games along with France striker Just Fontaine and Brazil great Jairzinho.
Messi also scored on a free kick against Nigeria in the 2014 World Cup and is among six players since records are available dating to 1966 who scored two free kick goals in the World Cup. He joined Pelé, Rivellino, Téofilo Cubillas, Bernard Genghini and David Beckham.
“I am very happy for him, for the moment he is having,” Giovani Lo Celso said in translated remarks after becoming the first Argentine other than Messi to score in this tournament, also on a free kick in the 19th minute. “The truth is that seeing him every day excites, excites and infects a lot. So obviously seeing him like that for us is very important.”
Messi didn’t start because Argentina had already clinched first place in Group J, and the game was further meaningless because Jordan was already eliminated from the knockout stage.
Nevertheless, the decidedly pro-Argentina crowd of 70,649 at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys was eager to see him.
Fans started chanting Messi’s name as soon as the second half started, and cheered loudly when he came off the bench merely to go through warmups.
The roar was louder when he stepped onto the field in the 60th minute, replacing Lautaro Martinez, who scored on a penalty kick in the first half.
For all the accomplishments of the eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or as the best player in Europe, Messi has never won the golden boot as the top scorer in each World Cup. This is his sixth.
Messi now has six goals in this tournament, two clear of Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Júnior and Erling Haaland.
Messi had been dealing with a minor hamstring injury with Inter Miami that slowed him in the lead-up to the World Cup.
The knockout round for Argentina begins Friday in South Florida, and in this expanded 48-team tournament that would be the first of five matches in 17 days if La Albiceleste makes it to the final on July 19. (AP)
