Opting for an almost entirely reserve formation as they had already secured a place in the World Cup knockout stages in advance, Argentina had no difficulty in beating Jordan 3-1 in the first meeting between the two teams on Saturday night (27), in the third and final round of Group J, at the AT&T Stadium, in Arlington, on the outskirts of Dallas.
Lionel Messi started the match on the bench, but came on in the second half and didn’t need long to score another free kick, his sixth in the current edition and his 19th in total, further isolating himself as the tournament’s all-time top scorer.
Albiceleste’s record-breaking number 10 also became the first to score in seven consecutive World Cup games, surpassing the mark set by Jairzinho and Just Fontaine.
With the result, the current champion reached the same 9 points also achieved only by co-hosts Mexico, in Group A, and by France, in Group I. In the tiebreaker criteria, the French team is ahead on goal difference, with 8, against 7 for the Argentines and 6 for the Mexicans.
In the previous rounds, Argentina beat Algeria 3-0, and Austria 2-0, with five goals scored by Messi.
The Albiceleste team, led by coach Lionel Scaloni, will only return to the field on July 3rd, when they face goalkeeper Vozinha’s debutant Cape Verde, at the Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami, at 7pm, in the first knockout phase.
Also debuting Jordan returns home with three defeats — it also lost to Algeria and Austria.
Before the opening whistle, a minute of silence was observed for the victims of the earthquakes in Venezuela.
Afterwards, the 70,649 fans present in the stands, once again mostly Argentines, returned to party throughout the 90 minutes, singing classic songs in support of the Argentine team, such as “El Que No Salta”, “Olé Olé Hello, soy de Argentina” and ” Vamos, Vamos, Selección”.
Of the starting lineup that started the first two matches at the World Cup, the only ones retained in the starting 11 were goalkeeper Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez and striker Lautaro Martínez.
In defense, the experienced Nicolás Otamendi took on the captain’s armband, forming a partnership with Marcos Senesi.
Nicolás Tagliafico and Giuliano Simeone came on the flanks, with Leandro Paredes, Exequiel Palacios and Giovani Lo Celso making up the midfield.
Further ahead, Thiago Almada and Lionel Messi gave way to Nico Paz and Julián Álvarez.
As coach Scaloni had already argued, Argentina, even with the reserves, sought to maintain their characteristic style of pressing without the ball and dominating spaces in the midfield.
The first danger came after just 6 minutes, when Lo Celso received the ball from Julián Álvarez and hit the goalkeeper. The goal was disallowed for offside.
Argentina continued to circle the Jordanian area until, at 16 minutes, Lo Celso was brought down at the edge of the penalty area.
The number 11 himself adjusted the ball and hit it perfectly, into the right corner of goalkeeper Yazeed Abu Laila.
It didn’t take long for Albiceleste to expand, in the 27th minute, after midfielder Al Rashdan raised his foot too much and hit Senesi in the face inside the area.
Lautaro Martínez went into the attack with determination and hit a firm shot into the left corner.
In the second half, after two minutes, Lo Celso had another goal disallowed after receiving a cross from Lautaro, who was offside at the beginning of the play.
When it looked like Argentina would score another, after Lautaro hit the crossbar, Jordan pulled one back on their first attempt at the Argentine goal, in the 9th minute, with Jordanian number 10 Al-Tamari completing a brilliant cross from Ehsan Haddad.
Messi, who was already preparing even before Jordan’s goal, entered the field shortly after, in the 15th minute, replacing Lautaro Martínez, to an ovation from the blue and white fans.
Four minutes after his entry, the number 10 already took a free kick from the edge of the penalty area that passed just above the Jordanian goal.
At 34, on the second attempt, the star delighted the fans with a charge from the edge of the penalty area that found the right corner of the Jordanian goal, without the goalkeeper being able to show any reaction.
