Why Lionel Messi benched himself for Argentina before latest 2026 FIFA World Cup goalscoring feat against Jordan - 'There are no more words'

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Lionel Messi began Argentina's World Cup group-stage finale on the bench, and manager Lionel Scaloni has suggested that the player himself made the call. Nevertheless, Messi scored as a substitute in a 3-1 win over Jordan.

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The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain superstar scored a free-kick with 10 minutes left to play. Giovani Lo Celso and Lautaro Martinez were on target for Argentina before the break, while Mousa Al-Tamari scored for already-eliminated Jordan.

It was Messi's sixth goal of the tournament, after he started the competition with a hat-trick against Algeria, before adding a brace against Austria.

Those strikes had already written his name in the history books yet again, as he became the all-time top goalscorer in World Cup history, ahead of Miroslav Klose.

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More milestones are always up for grabs, and Messi took another one on Saturday night, with his finish against Jordan meaning he had scored in a record-breaking seven successive World Cup games.

In addition to his trio of goalscoring appearances this summer, four years ago, at Qatar 2022, he netted in a magical knockout run to the trophy, against Australia, Netherlands, Croatia and France.

Despite ticking another one off, his boss revealed that Messi actively chose to benefit his colleagues by starting from the bench, allowing them to get more minutes in their legs, over his own pursuit of records.

Scaloni said, via TyC: "Today, he could have played 90 minutes, and, without meaning any disrespect to the opponent, he could have further cemented his legendary status.

"But he preferred to let his team-mates get playing time, and focus on what's to come. That speaks volumes about him, because he doesn't dwell on those numbers that everyone talks about.

"It speaks volumes about what the national team, the group, and his team-mates mean to him. After that, I'm like you... there are no more words."

The defending champions joined Mexico and France as the only nations to boast a perfect record coming out of the group stage, and have now been rewarded with a favourable draw.

They take on Cabo Verde next, after the African minnows' dream debut saw them qualify with three draws.

The meeting with Cabo Verde is on Friday, July 3, and takes place in Miami, the adopted city of Messi.

Scaloni has questioned the timing of the fixture, however, with his troops set to play at 18:00 local time, rather than a late kick-off when the weather would be cooler.

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He said: "We're going to play in very hot weather, at a time that's hard to understand, but everyone has played [in the heat], so we can't complain."

If the heavy favourites get through that tie, they will take on either Australia or Egypt in the round of 16. One of Colombia, Ghana, Switzerland and Algeria would await in the quarter-finals.

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