Lionel Messi will be familiar with the area when he and the Argentinian national team play in the World Cup‘s first knockout round.
With Argentina’s win over Austria on Monday and the subsequent results in Group J, Messi’s squad clinched the top spot in the group. As a result, it will play its Round of 32 match at Miami Stadium (typically known as Hard Rock Stadium) — less than 20 miles from the home of Messi’s club, Inter Miami.
The knockout match will be on July 3 at 6 p.m.
Argentina’s opponent in that match has not yet been determined. It will play the runner-up from Group H. Spain currently leads the group with four points. Uruguay and Cape Verde are tied for second with two points. Saudi Arabia is in fourth place with one point.
Uruguay faces Spain in its last group-stage match, and Cape Verde, the tournament’s group-stage darling, faces Saudi Arabia.
Messi, who led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title, has been one of the stars of the World Cup so far. He leads all players with five goals, scoring a hat trick in Argentina’s opener against Algeria and adding two more goals in the win over Austria. He has scored all of Argentina’s goals in the tournament so far.
Messi has played his club soccer in Miami since 2023 when he transferred from Paris Saint-Germain to Inter Miami in a seismic move for MLS. He has scored 90 goals in 104 appearances for Inter Miami, helping the team win the 2023 Leagues Cup, the 2024 Supporters’ Shield and the 2025 MLS Cup. He was named the MLS MVP in 2024 and 2025 and won the league’s Golden Boot in 2025.