Messi Sets 7-Game World Cup Scoring Record as Argentina Beats Jordan 3-1

Q: Can Cape Verde's 40-year-old keeper, an overnight sensation, end Lionel Messi's final World Cup dream?

Yes — he has a real chance to, but Cape Verde and Vozinha would still be clear underdogs against Argentina. The matchup is now set: Argentina, after a perfect Group J campaign capped by a 3-1 win over Jordan, will face Cape Verde in the Round of 32 in Miami. That puts Cape Verde’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha directly in the path of Lionel Messi’s likely final World Cup run. Vozinha has been one of the stories of the tournament. Cape Verde, a debutant nation of about 525,000 people, reached the knockouts unbeaten with three draws, including a 0-0 result against Spain and a 2-2 draw with Uruguay. Vozinha’s seven-save clean sheet against Spain made him an overnight sensation, and his performances have been central to Cape Verde becoming the smallest nation by population ever to reach the World Cup knockout stage. Still, the scale of the task is obvious. Messi is in outstanding form, having just become the first player to score in seven straight World Cup matches. He has six goals in the tournament, leads the Golden Boot race, and came off the bench against Jordan to settle the game with a free kick. Argentina are defending champions, have won all three group matches, and carry a nine-match World Cup winning streak since 2022. So Cape Verde can dream, and Vozinha has already shown he can frustrate elite opponents. But to stop Messi and eliminate Argentina would require the biggest result in Cape Verde’s football history.

Q: Did Jordan's goal expose a fatal flaw in the defending champions' quest for another title?

No. Jordan’s goal looked more like a warning sign than evidence of a title-ending weakness. Argentina still finished the group stage with three wins from three, scored three times against Jordan, and had already secured top spot. Lionel Scaloni also rested Messi at the start, which matters when judging the team’s rhythm and control. Once Jordan pulled a goal back through Mousa Al-Tamari early in the second half, Argentina briefly lost sharpness, but Messi’s introduction quickly restored order and his free kick sealed the match. What the goal did expose was a familiar issue: Argentina can drift after halftime and allow lesser opponents a spell of momentum. That is not new, and against stronger knockout opposition those lapses could be punished more severely. Some pre-tournament concern already existed around the back line and occasional defensive looseness, even though Argentina’s broader record remains strong. The larger body of evidence still favors Argentina. They came into the tournament with an excellent defensive profile, had conceded very little in qualifying and pre-World Cup matches, and are now on a nine-match World Cup winning streak. One goal from a debutant side that still exited without a point is too small a sample to redefine them. So Jordan’s strike did not reveal a fatal flaw. It did underline that Argentina, for all their quality and Messi’s brilliance, cannot afford second-half complacency as the knockout rounds begin against a disciplined Cape Verde side.

Q: At 39, is Messi's record-breaking streak a sign of his peak form or his last legendary stand?

Messi’s streak looks less like a return to his absolute physical peak and more like an elite late-career phase that has become a historic final act. The evidence from this World Cup is overwhelming. At 39, he has scored in seven straight World Cup matches, a record no player had reached before, and his free-kick against Jordan was his sixth goal of the tournament, keeping him clear in the Golden Boot race. He has also extended his World Cup scoring and appearance records while helping Argentina finish the group stage with three wins from three. What makes this remarkable is not that Messi is the same player he was at 25, but that he has adapted. Against Jordan he was rested, came off the bench, and still changed the match immediately. That points to a player managing minutes, conserving energy and relying on decision-making, technique and set-piece quality rather than constant physical dominance. Modern recovery, nutrition and individualized training have clearly helped extend that level. At the same time, the context matters. This tournament is widely viewed as likely to be his last World Cup, which gives every record added weight. Argentina are still contenders, and Messi is still decisive, but at 39 this run is best understood as sustained greatness at the highest level rather than a new peak. So the fairest reading is both: not peak Messi in the old sense, but a last legendary stand played at a level few athletes in any sport have ever maintained this late.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 28

Lionel Messi came off the bench to score his sixth goal of the 2026 World Cup, sealing Argentina’s 3-1 win over Jordan and becoming the first player to score in seven straight World Cup matches.
The 39-year-old struck from a free kick for his 19th career World Cup goal, extending his tournament lead in the Golden Boot race to two goals.
Giovani Lo Celso and Lautaro Martinez scored Argentina’s other goals as the defending champions finished Group J with three wins from three and set up a round-of-32 tie with Cape Verde.
Argentina also made set-piece history with two direct free-kick goals in one World Cup match, while Leandro Paredes completed a record 154 passes for an Argentine in a tournament game.
Jordan, already eliminated before kickoff, still ended their debut campaign with a goal through Mousa Al-Tamari and scored in all three of their World Cup matches.