Lionel Messi came off the bench to score and break yet another record as Argentina maintained their perfect start to the World Cup with a comfortable victory over Jordan in Dallas.
Having been left on the bench, with Argentina having already won Group J, Messi was brought on in the 60th minute to the loudest cheer of the night.
That was until he curled a low free-kick around the wall to extend Argentina’s lead with 10 minutes to go.
The goal was Messi’s sixth of the tournament already – putting him two clear of his nearest challengers in the race for the golden boot – and a record-extending 19th World Cup goal.
It also meant the former Barcelona forward became the first man to score in seven consecutive World Cup games.
“Simply incredible,” ex-England midfielder Danny Murphy said on BBC One. “He just impacts games.
“He’s so clever, so bright. He’s so aware of what’s going on around him. It’s an absolute pleasure to watch him do what he does.”
Earlier, former Tottenham midfielder Giovani lo Celso had opened the scoring for a much-changed Argentina team as he whipped a superb free-kick into the top corner.
Striker Lautaro Martinez doubled the lead with an emphatic penalty thumped into the bottom corner, after the referee had been sent to the monitor to see Marcos Senesi had been inadvertently kicked in the head as he dived to head the ball at goal.
While Argentina was in control, Jordan continued to fight and halved the deficit with a brilliantly worked goal 10 minutes into the second half.
Having started the move, substitute Mousa Al Tamari was there to convert Ehsan Haddad’s excellent ball across the face of the goal.
The stadium erupted a couple of minutes later when Messi was introduced for the last half hour.
There was a buzz of excitement every time he got on the ball in the final third, and he gave the fans at Dallas Stadium the moment they so craved with another record-breaking goal.
