Dallas, Jun 23: Lionel Messi scored a goal for Argentina against Austria in the 38th minute of their Group J match in the FIFA World Cup 2026 at the Dallas Stadium on Monday, setting the record of most individual goals by any player in the tournament's history. This was Messi's 17th goal in the FIFA World Cup and also his fourth in the 2026 edition.

Two days before his 39th birthday, Messi not only broke the tournament's scoring record, but he also joined Just Fontaine of France and Jairzinho of Brazil as the third man to score in six successive World Cup games. This is Messi's fourth goal of the tournament, taking his tally to 17 at the World Cup.

Messi improved on the record of 16 goals held by Miroslav Klose of Germany. The list is now led by Messi with 17 goals, followed by Klose at 16 and Ronaldo (Brazil) at 15 goals. Kylian Mbappe of France and Gerd Müller of Germany are next in the list with 14 goals.

As reigning tournament champions, Argentina faced some tough challenges from Austria, and Messi led their fine comeback with a superb goal. He got possession of the ball and passed it to Thiago Almada. Almada sent a masterful pass back to Messi, who received the ball and launched a great shot to beat Austria's Alexander Schlager. He could have set the record a few minutes earlier, but missed a penalty.

At half-time, Argentina are leading Austria 1-0 in the match being played at the Dallas Stadium in Dallas.

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Argentina came back strongly to impose an offensive style of play. They dominated play in the opening minutes but could not take the lead as Messi missed a penalty, which caused them to lose control.

Austria dominated the next few minutes of play and managed to take control of the game, pressing high and cutting off the opponent’s build-up. Playing aggressively, they kept the game even for the next 15 minutes. However, they were completely ineffective, as they could not translate their dominance into a goal.

Argentina then wrested back the initiative when Messi created a play in midfield. He combined well with Thiago Almada to create a good opportunity and then converted it to give Argentina a 1-0 lead and set the record for most individual goals scored by a player.

(IANS)