The Messi match: 4 takeaways from Argentina’s record victory against Austria

Argentina arrived in Dallas needing a result to top the group and left with a record. Lionel Messi spent the first 10 minutes missing a penalty and reminding everyone that he is human. He spent the next 85 years showing everyone why he wasn’t. Here’s my takeaway from Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria: 1. Klose-ing time: Messi didn’t want a roommate For exactly one match, Messi had shared the all-time Men’s World Cup record with Germany’s Miroslav Klose with 16 goals. Apparently this arrangement bored him. At the end of the first half of Monday’s match, Facundo Medina fired a cross from the left, Messi took a touch and the ball landed in the bottom corner. No. 17 for No. 10, and the record belonged to him alone. In stoppage time he added an 18th goal, weaving through a thicket of Austrian legs like a man squeezing into a closing subway car. Klose needed four tournaments to reach 16. Messi is in his sixth World Cup, two days shy of 39, and has just opened a two-goal lead over the retired German striker. Messi also missed a penalty, the first player to do so in this tournament. Given the evening he just had, no one will remember this failure on site. 2. 40 years after Maradona Magic, Messi matches his total – in his late 30s. Forty years ago today, Diego Maradona beat England with his fist and then with the greatest goal the tournament has ever produced. The most Argentinian afternoon in football history. Maradona scored 34 goals for Argentina during his career and retired from international duty at age 33. But here’s the number that shouldn’t be possible: Messi has scored 34 since his 35th birthday. He’s quite a Maradona, assembled from bits and pieces of stubbornness over the years most players spend on a beach. Here are the numbers that matter: 18 World Cup goals versus eight, 120 international goals versus 34. The comparison hasn’t been a comparison for a long time. 3. Argentina won in ugly fashion – which is scary This isn’t the clinic Argentina put on last week against Algeria. Ralph Rangnick’s Austria did the same thing as Rangnick: pressed in waves, remained compact, refusing to give Argentina any rhythm. Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni stuck to his 4-3-3 with Messi drifting down the right, and the fluidity came and went like a bad phone signal. Argentina dominated possession between 54 and 46 percent and spent long periods managing rather than threatening. Austria even had chances. Kevin Danso threw himself in front of an Enzo Fernández shot on the line, Michael Gregoritsch headed the ball over, a stoppage-time header slipped wide and Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez had to earn his wages from a Marcel Sabitzer free-kick. They did everything right and lost 2-0 to a team that missed a penalty. This is the warning for the rest of the table: the champion played at maybe 70 percent and still came away with three points. 4. Austria: down, not eliminated The score hurts, but the Austrian tournament is alive and, better yet, in its hands. They sit second in Group J with three points, and that 3-1 win over Jordan in the first match became the most important thing they’ve done all year. Argentina won the group and reached the round of 16. There remains an automatic ticket. This is the last match against Algeria. Win it and Rangnick’s team will almost certainly advance. Monday’s Jordan-Algeria result will clarify the exact math, but Austria controls the part that matters. And they deserved the benefit of the doubt. They pressed the world champions, created real chances and didn’t flinch. No one’s idea of ​​a fun raffle is if they get it right.