In Arlington, Texas, Argentina defeated Austria 2-0 with both goals from Lionel Messi, who now has 18 World Cup goals. Six days earlier, he scored his first World Cup hat-trick to tie Miroslav Klose's record of 16. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Messi scored his first goal in the 38th minute, two days before his 39th birthday. He became the third player after Just Fontaine and Jairzinho to score in six consecutive World Cup matches. Earlier, he missed a penalty kick, which angered him.
"I have no more words to talk about Leo," Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said through an interpreter.
Austria coach Ralf Rangnick said: "Someone who is 39 years old and can score two goals, and five goals overall at the beginning of the World Cup, well, that makes a difference. Lionel Messi showed us today that he is the best."
The first goal came from about 20 yards with his left foot, fooling the goalkeeper. It was his record 17th goal (later 18th). The crowd of 70,649 was heavily pro-Argentina.
Messi added his 18th goal in stoppage time, shooting through several defenders after the initial attempt was saved by Alexander Schlager.
Klose, who played 24 World Cup matches and beat Argentina in the 2014 final, said in a June interview that he expected Messi to break the record: "With more teams, there are more chances to score. Messi is a genius."
Messi's hat-trick in the previous match was his 200th international appearance.