ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Lionel Messi entered in the 60th minute after not starting Argentina’s group stage finale against Jordan in the World Cup with first place already wrapped up.
The crowd at AT&T Stadium began chanting Messi’s name as soon as the second half started, and cheered loudly even when he came off the bench to go through warmups. The roar was louder when he stepped onto the field Saturday night, three days after his 39th birthday.
The
all-time leading men’s World Cup scorer had the first five goals of this tournament for La Albiceleste. Giovani Lo Celso and Lautaro Martinez scored in the first half against Jordan, which had already been eliminated from the knockout stage. Messi replaced Martinez.
Messi had been dealing with a minor hamstring injury with Inter Miami that slowed him in the lead-up to the World Cup. Messi has never won the golden boot that goes to the leading scorer in each 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 they make it to the final on July 19.
Nicolás Paz, who made his World Cup debut subbing in for Messi late in the 3-0 win over Algeria in the opener, was among nine different starters from the previous game, a 2-0 victory over Austria.
It was Messi's 202nd international appearance for Argentina, including a FIFA-record 29 World Cup matches. He has scored in six consecutive World Cup games, joining France striker Just Fontaine and Brazil great Jairzinho as only players to do that.
Entering the final day of group play, Messi had a tournament-leading five goals, all of the scoring for Argentina. He had his first World Cup hat trick against Algeria and got his fifth goal in the waning moments of injury time against Austria. Messi hasn't won the golden boot that goes to the World Cup's leading scorer.
Messi's two goals against Austria gave him 18 and broke the record of 16 he shared with Germany striker Miroslav Klose. Messi is in his sixth World Cup. Klose played 214 games over four tournaments from 2002-14, and his final goal came in the 2014 final for a 1-0 victory over Messi and Argentina.
Kylian Mbappé matched Klose at 16 with two goals in France’s 3-0 win over Iraq a few hours after Messi set the record. Mbappé, who is among several players second to Messi with four goals in this tournament, didn’t score in a 4-1 win over Norway in his final group match.
Argentina, the Group J winner, will play the tiny island nation of Cape Verde, a first-time World Cup qualifier, in the round of 32.
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