Lionel Messi On Monday, he scored his 17th World Cup goal in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria, becoming the top scorer in FIFA World Cup history. The Argentina captain then added another goal in stoppage time to take his tally to 18 goals.Messi reached the milestone in the 38th minute, just two days shy of his 39th birthday. With this goal, Messi scored in his sixth consecutive World Cup match, becoming the only player to achieve this feat after Just Fontaine of France and Jairzinho of Brazil.The Argentine captain equaled Germany’s Miroslav Klose with 16 goals at the World Cup when Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 in their first Group J match in Kansas City last Tuesday for a personal World Cup hat-trick.In the game against Austria, he had a chance to surpass Klose, but missed a penalty in the 9th minute.Argentina, which has won two games in the group stage, has already secured a spot in the knockout rounds. Messi has scored all five of Argentina’s goals so far in this World Cup, which is also his sixth appearance.His record-breaking goal came when Thiago Almada allowed Facundo Medina’s pass to pass to Messi. Messi’s shot from about 20 yards out went past goalkeeper Alexander Schrager who had moved the wrong way.After the goal, Messi ran toward the corner and raised his right arm as a largely pro-Argentina crowd celebrated at the sold-out stadium, which drew 70,649 spectators at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.Earlier, the same crowd had reacted when Messi missed a penalty. His left-footed shot missed the right post. He took four of seven penalties in regular World Cup play and missed a penalty in three consecutive tournaments.Messi’s second goal came in stoppage time. After his initial shot was saved by Schrager, he sent the rebound through a group of defenders and into the net.Klose scored 16 goals in 24 World Cup games for Germany. His last World Cup appearance was in the 2014 final, where Germany defeated Argentina 1-0 in overtime.Klose said in an interview published on June 12 that he hopes Messi can break his own record.“I expect my record to be broken in this tournament,” Klose told German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.“As the field expands, the number of games becomes more and more, and the opportunities to score goals become more and more. I think Argentina and France will go very far. That’s absolutely fine, records will eventually be broken anyway, and Messi is welcome to be the one to do it. I’m a big fan of Messi, always have been. Messi is a genius.”Messi scored a hat-trick against Algeria in his 200th international appearance, exactly 20 years after he scored on his World Cup debut in Germany. Monday’s match was his 28th World Cup appearance, a FIFA record.
