A Argentina beat Austria in the second round of Group J of the 2026 World Cup 2-0. The match took place at AT&T Stadium, in Texas, United States.
Lionel Messi, number 10 and captain of Argentina, scored his 17th goal in World Cups and became the greatest scorer in the history of the competition. And he scored again at the end of the match. Second place goes to Miroslav Klose, with 16, followed by Ronaldo with 15 and Gerd Müller and Kylian Mbappé with 14.
A Argentina came from a safe 3-0 victory against Algeriawith a show by Lionel Messi, who scored the three goals. The number 10 wanted, in addition to the artillery, to guarantee classification for the next phase.
A Austria also came from a 3-1 victory against Jordanwithout much difficulty. A draw would already be a good deal and would practically guarantee their presence in the next phase.
Messi went from hell to heaven in the first half. He missed a penalty conceded by Lautaro Martínez, which could have given him the record. But the Argentine seems unshakable and scored his historic goal after a beautiful attacking movewith the right to light screen by Thiago Almada, ex-Botafogo.
In the second half, the pace of the game dropped significantly; Argentina suffered little and secured victory in the final minutes with another goal from Messi.
The number 10 and Mbappé have everything to make another historic World Cup and fight game by game for the total artillery of football’s biggest competition. Who knows, maybe they will meet again in the final.
A date with destiny
Argentina’s expectation of dominance was confirmed after just five minutes of play. Lautaro Martinez was sandwiched between Xaver Schlager and Stefan Poschbeing knocked down inside the area. With the penalty confirmed by VAR, Lionel Messi had a date with destiny. It was the chance to score the goal that would pass Miroslav Klose in top scorer in World Cups. But geniuses also make mistakes.
In a strange attack, the number 10 sent the ball out to the right side of the goal, in a very weak penalty kick. The wasted chance gave new air to the match. Austria no longer let Argentina exchange passes with ease and imposed their high pressure, which has the identity of coach Ralf Rangnick.
In the Argentine relegations, the Austrian team was able to defend the area and prevent the last pass, although Messi managed to free himself from the marking and appeared free several times at the edge of the area.
No sooner said than done. In the 38th minute of the first half, Messi received a cross from Facundo Medina, had a beautiful screen from Thiago Almada, shot from the crescent of the area and scored the goal.becoming the greatest scorer in the history of World Cups, with 17 goals. Kylian Mbappéwith his 14 goals, will still play for France against Iraq, thinking about the record. Miroslav Klose is 16.
Rest?
Returning to the second half, Austria seemed to have felt the blow of the goal at the end of the first half, with Argentina once again taking control of the game.
Marcel Sabitzer, missing in the attacking field, hit well and forced Emiliano Martínez to make a difficult save. The dead ball seemed to be the European team’s only weapon. Despite not overcoming the Austrians, Argentina did not suffer.
The pace of the match dropped significantly, mainly due to the lack of intensity from the Argentine team, which was looking for more launches and counterattacks. It seemed to be resting for the next phase.
Austria kept the ball, but was unable to build something offensively that threatened Lionel Scaloni’s team.
Almost at lights out, he scored again. Lionel Messi, in a counterattack, left Julian Alvarez in front of the goal, who stopped at the goalkeeper. The ball returned to Messi, who finished twice until he managed to score his 18th goal, after a rebound from the defense. History continues to be written, and Argentina qualified for the qualifiers.
