The crowd at the stadium in Dallas demanded that Lionel Messi come off the bench. True, Argentina's match against Jordan was only a formality, but the fans at least wanted to bask in the glow of the man and the legend.
In the 60th minute, the maestro strolled onto the pitch, and in the 80th he punched the clock, scoring his sixth goal of the tournament. God's right hand left his mark once again in a 3-1 victory.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni made nine changes to the team that started against Austria. It was nothing like the second-string lineup Norway fielded against France, because Argentina truly had nothing to play for. Top spot in the group had already been secured after two matches.
It was an excellent opportunity to give minutes to Nico Paz, Julian Alvarez and Giuliano Simeone. If they were not going to get a chance against Jordan, then when?
Simeone was perhaps the only one who made an impression. He never stopped plowing down the right flank, while Paz looked sleepy and Alvarez struggled against a Jordanian defense that had no intention of being made to look foolish on its big day. How many times will it get to face Argentina at the World Cup?
In fourth gear, the Argentines scored twice in the first half, both from set pieces. Giovani Lo Celso made it 1-0 with a perfect free kick in the 19th minute, while Lautaro Martinez converted from the spot in the 31st. How much does the World Cup matter to them? You should have seen how happy Martinez was after scoring the first tournament goal of his career.
The crowd celebrated, but it wanted Messi on the pitch. With all due respect to the young talents and the bright future, they wanted the one who never grows old. Seconds before he came on in the 60th minute, Jordan stunned the Argentines when Mousa al-Tamari finished a cross to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The king of Jordan erupted in the stands, while al-Tamari barely celebrated, immediately running back to the center circle. Who exactly are the world champions, anyway? He was in the zone and wanted an equalizer. Argentina had conceded only one goal in the tournament until now, and it came from the feet of our neighbor to the east. So we are in the picture too.
Messi came on, because the crowd could not be disappointed. The greatest of them all made his presence felt. He fired his first free kick just past the crossbar, calibrated his foot and then made no mistake with the second, adding another goal to his endless collection. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he will face Cape Verde. And do not worry, his magazine is still full.
Above them all
How full? It simply never runs out. This was his sixth goal of the group stage, the highest tally by any player in World Cup history, breaking the record held by Toto Schillaci. It was also the seventh consecutive World Cup match in which he has scored at least one goal. Again, more than anyone ever.
He scored in every one of Argentina's knockout rounds on the way to winning the title in Qatar, and continued with a goal in each of the group-stage matches in the United States. In fact, when he is on the pitch in America, he is the only one scoring. For either team. And along the way, he also extended his lead over Kylian Mbappe in the all-time World Cup scoring chart, with 19 goals.
