{"id":346092,"date":"2026-06-22T20:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/346092\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T20:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:58:12","slug":"lionel-messi-breaks-world-cup-scoring-record-with-17th-18th-goals-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/346092\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi breaks World Cup scoring record with 17th, 18th goals"},"content":{"rendered":"

By STEPHEN HAWKINS,\u00a0AP Sports Writer<\/p>\n

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) \u2014 Lionel Messi broke the men\u2019s World Cup<\/a>\u00a0scoring record with his 17th goal and then added an 18th in stoppage time in defending champion\u00a0Argentina\u2019s 2-0 win over Austria<\/a>\u00a0on Monday.<\/p>\n

The record goal came in the 38th minute and two days before Messi\u2019s 39th birthday, and amid the concern of\u00a0an ailing father<\/a>\u00a0back at home. It was the sixth consecutive\u00a0World Cup<\/a>\u00a0game in which Messi has scored \u2014 joining France striker Just Fontaine and Brazil great Jairzinho as only players to do so.<\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s Marta owns the women\u2019s World Cup scoring record with 17.<\/p>\n

Messi had equaled Germany striker Miroslav Klose for the most goals in the World Cup at 16 with\u00a0his first hat trick at the tournament<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Argentina\u2019s 3-0<\/a>\u00a0win over Algeria in the Group J opener last Tuesday night in Kansas City.<\/p>\n

More: World Cup standings, results and brackets<\/a><\/p>\n

He first had a chance to set the record in the ninth minute against Austria on Monday, but he missed a penalty kick.<\/p>\n

Argentina advanced to the knockout round by winning its first two group games, with Messi scoring all five of the team\u2019s goals so far in his sixth World Cup.<\/p>\n

Messi added his 18th World Cup goal in stoppage time when he shot one through several defenders after the first attempt was turned away by goalkeeper Alexander Schlager.<\/p>\n

\"Argentina\u2019s<\/p>\n

Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi, center, scores the opening goal during the World Cup Group J soccer match between Argentina and Austria in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)\n<\/p>\n

\"Argentina\u2019s<\/p>\n

Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi (10) controls the ball while being pursued by Austria\u2019s Romano Schmid (18) during the World Cup Group J soccer match between Argentina and Austria in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Sam Hodde)\n<\/p>\n

\"Argentina\u2019s<\/p>\n

Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi reacts after failing to score a penalty shot during the World Cup Group J soccer match between Argentina and Austria in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Sam Hodde)\n<\/p>\n

\"Austria<\/p>\n

Austria goalkeeper Alexander Schlager (1) dives for the ball as Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi\u2019s shot goes wide during the World Cup Group J soccer match between Argentina and Austria in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Sam Hodde)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi, center, scores the opening goal during the World Cup Group J soccer match between Argentina and Austria in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

In the first half, the record became Messi\u2019s alone when he caught Schlager leaning the wrong way after Thiago Almada let Facuno Medina\u2019s pass go by him and directly onto the Argentina captain\u2019s left foot from about 20 yards.<\/p>\n

As the ball went into the net, Messi ran toward a corner and thrust his right arm into the air to celebrate the mark with the decidedly pro-Argentina crowd among the 70,649 fans in the sold-out home of the NFL\u2019s Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n

There had been a gasp from those same fans when Messi missed the penalty kick in the ninth minute.<\/p>\n

His left-footed attempt went just wide of the right post. He is now 4 of 7 on penalty kicks in regulation play at the World Cup with misses in three consecutive tournaments.<\/p>\n

Klose scored his 16 goals while playing in 24 World Cup matches for Germany, which wrapped up his fourth tournament by winning the 2014 final 1-0 in extra time over Messi and Argentina.<\/p>\n

In an interview published on June 12, Klose said he expected Messi to break the scoring record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect my record to fall in this tournament,\u201d Klose told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. \u201cWith the larger field of competing teams there are more games and so more chances to score goals. And I assume Argentina and France will go far. That\u2019s perfectly OK, the record will be broken eventually anyhow and Messi is welcome to be the one who does it. I\u2019m a big fan of Messi, always have been. Messi is a genius.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messi\u2019s hat trick in the previous game, in his 200th international appearance, came 20 years to the date of his World Cup debut in Germany, when he also scored. Monday was his FIFA-record 28th match in the tournament.<\/p>\n

The penalty kick came after Lautaro Martinez was running free in the box and was tackled from behind by Xaver Schlager and Stefan Posch, the defender playing with a broken jaw. Schalger got a foot on the ball, but Posch drew the penalty because he did not touch the ball as Martinez tumbled to the ground.<\/p>\n

Play continued for more than a minute with Martinez still on the ground near the goal. When the game was stopped for him, officials reviewed the play.<\/p>\n

Messi\u2019s father has been undergoing medical treatment for an undisclosed illness, the family said in a statement last week while not providing any specifics. The 68-year-old Jorge Messi has played a key role in his third son\u2019s soccer career, acting as his agent and managing his business affairs off the field.<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi was overcome with emotion after scoring his first goal against Algeria, and said after that match his tears came following some tough days not related to soccer.<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer James Ellingworth in Duesseldorf, Germany, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By STEPHEN HAWKINS,\u00a0AP Sports Writer ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) \u2014 Lionel Messi broke the men\u2019s World Cup\u00a0scoring record with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,73993,123411,123412,123413],"class_list":["post-346092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-lionel-messi","tag-messi-world-cup-goals","tag-world-cup-goals-record","tag-world-cup-scoring-record"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}