BY OUR CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER AT DALLAS STADIUM
Even when he is supposed to be putting his feet up, Lionel Messi simply cannot resist the pull of footballing immortality. In front of a raucous, star-studded crowd inside Texas’s spectacular Dallas Stadium, the 39-year-old maestro stepped off the substitutes’ bench to wrap up a standard 3-1 victory for Argentina over a fiercely competitive Jordan side, and in doing so, etched his name into the record books yet again.
Reigning World Cup holders Argentina had already comfortably secured their passage to the knockout phase, leading manager Lionel Scaloni to roll the dice and make nine sweeping changes to his starting lineup.
With a demanding knockout calendar looming, the legendary Messi was handed what was meant to be a well-earned evening of relaxation on the pine.
But when the plucky underdogs from Jordan threatened an audacious second-half comeback, the bat-signal went up, the talisman was introduced, and history was duly written in the Texas night.
By curling home a majestic 80th-minute free-kick, Messi became the first footballer in history to score in seven consecutive World Cup matches, stretching all the way back to his unforgettable, golden run to glory in Qatar four years ago. It was his sixth goal of this North American tournament alone, putting him firmly in the driving seat for another Golden Boot, and his 19th career World Cup goal overall.
Lo Celso’s Dream Debut
Long before Messi’s late-game intervention, the night belonged to another Argentine star eager to seize his moment under the bright lights. Midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, who cruelly missed the entire 2022 World Cup triumph due to a heartbreaking last-minute injury, was handed a starting berth and looked like a man possessed.
He thought he had cracked the code after just seven minutes with a beautiful outside-of-the-foot finish, only to be denied by a razor-thin offside flag.
Undeterred, the creative hub found his redemption just twelve minutes later. After being hacked down on the absolute edge of the penalty area by Jordan’s Mohannad Abu Taha—who received a yellow card for his troubles—Lo Celso dusted himself off, stood over the set-piece, and bent a magnificent, dipping left-footed strike past the despairing dive of Yazeed Abulaila.
It was a goal of pure, unadulterated quality, making him the first Argentinian to score on his World Cup debut since Martin Palermo did so against Greece back in 2010.
Argentina completely monopolised the first-half narrative, playing with the swagger of reigning champions. They choked the life out of Jordan’s transitions and repeatedly threatened to extend their lead.
The pressure finally told just after the half-hour mark through a chaotic sequence in the box. Lautaro Martínez unluckily rattled the woodwork from a swinging Nicolás Tagliafico cross, and as Tottenham’s new defensive recruit Marcos Senesi stooped to turn in the rebound, he was caught in the face by a dangerously high boot from Jordan’s Nizar Al Rashdan.
Referee Istvan Kovacs initially waved play on, but after a quick consultation with the VAR monitor, point-blank awarded the penalty.
Martínez stepped up and confidently buried a low, right-footed effort inside the left post in the 31st minute, registering his 38th international goal and shattering a personal World Cup scoring drought in emphatic style.
With a comfortable two-goal cushion at the interval, Scaloni’s men visibly eased off the accelerator in the second half, and a spirited Jordan team, playing in their debut World Cup tournament, punished them for their complacency.
The turning point arrived in the 55th minute via a moment of genuine quality from Jordan’s talisman, Mousa Al-Tamari. The dangerous forward sparked a beautifully fluid team move before racing into the box to meet Ehsan Haddad’s inch-perfect cross, smashing a brilliant left-footed half-volley into Emiliano Martínez’s top-left corner.
Dallas erupted, and for a brief five-minute window, an unimaginable upset looked like it could be on the cards as the underdogs chased a historic equaliser.
Sensing the shifting momentum, Scaloni unleashed his ultimate weapon on the hour mark. Messi, Alexis Mac Allister, and Thiago Almada were thrown into the fray to restore order. The tactical adjustment worked perfectly.
The match stats laid bare the overwhelming superiority of the South American giants. Argentina finished the encounter with a dominant expected goals (xG) metric of 2.13, crafted from their twelve total shots over the ninety minutes. In stark contrast, Jordan’s industrious but limited frontline managed an xG of just 0.74 from their five shots on target. The world champions starved their opponents of possession in the final twenty minutes, moving the ball with mesmerizing accuracy.
The definitive moment arrived ten minutes from time. Messi was brought down after dancing past Amer Jamous, giving Argentina a free-kick in prime territory. The maestro stood over the ball, assessed the wall, and whipped an absolute genius of a strike that utterly wrong-footed Abulaila.
It was a fitting finale to a historic night, ensuring Argentina finishes Group J with a flawless 100 per cent record. Next up for the unstoppable holders is a Round of 32 clash against Cape Verde, and on this form, stopping Messi and his supporting cast looks like an impossible task.