{"id":346447,"date":"2026-06-23T02:15:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T02:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/346447\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T02:15:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T02:15:27","slug":"messi-sets-world-cup-scoring-record-as-defending-champion-ar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/346447\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi sets World Cup scoring record as defending champion Ar&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) \u2014 Lionel Messi set a <a data-wisiwig-link=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/fifa-world-cup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" class=\"text_$sec cursor_pointer transition-prop_color duration_$fast ease_east-out hover:text_$sec_D hover:duration_$fast hover:ease_east-out hover:transition-prop_color\">World Cup<\/a> record with his <a data-wisiwig-link=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/messi-world-cup-argentina-c42d5dfa81ab0c101e426035ea4cfade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" class=\"text_$sec cursor_pointer transition-prop_color duration_$fast ease_east-out hover:text_$sec_D hover:duration_$fast hover:ease_east-out hover:transition-prop_color\">17th and 18th goals<\/a>, and defending champion Argentina advanced to the knockout stage with a 2-0 victory over Austria on Monday.<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">Messi had a golden opportunity to break the record in the ninth minute, but went wide to the right on a penalty kick. Almost 30 minutes later, Messi caught Alexander Schlager leaning the wrong way after Thiago Almada let Facuno Medina&#8217;s pass go by him directly onto Messi&#8217;s left foot.<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">\u201cThere were moments when I was really angry about missing the penalty, but I was able to make up for it,\u201d Messi said.<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">In the waning seconds of injury time, Messi extended his record by sending a shot through several defenders after Schlager turned away his first attempt. He entered the game even with Germany striker Miroslav Klose, who scored 16 goals over four World Cups from 2002-14.<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">\u201cBeyond anything I\u2019m so happy for the win,\u201d Messi said. \u201cIt was huge, tough and difficult. It would allow us to be relaxed to what\u2019s ahead. All matches in this World Cup are very even, very intense. I\u2019m enjoying this moment and craving to enjoy with my teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">Two days before his 39th birthday and with an <a data-wisiwig-link=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/lionel-messi-argentina-world-cup-d6103e936c511ddcd7b134b407782f19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" class=\"text_$sec cursor_pointer transition-prop_color duration_$fast ease_east-out hover:text_$sec_D hover:duration_$fast hover:ease_east-out hover:transition-prop_color\">ailing father back home<\/a>, Messi celebrated twice with teammates to the delight of the decidedly pro-Argentine crowd at the sold-out home of the NFL\u2019s Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">Most of those fans were wearing Messi\u2019s familiar No. 10 jersey with white and blue stripes, dwarfing the small pockets of red-clad Austrian supporters under the retractable roof that offered air-conditioned comfort on the second day of what is sure to be another hot Texas summer.<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">The scoring record came 40 years to the day since the late Diego Maradona\u2019s \u201cgoal of the century\u201d \u2014 another No. 10 who made a solo run from the other side of midfield to give Argentina a two-goal lead in a 2-1 victory over England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals in Mexico City. Argentina went on to win the title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) \u2014 Lionel Messi set a World Cup record with his 17th and 18th goals, and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-346447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346447","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=346447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}