Argentina 2-0 Austria - 2026 World Cup Match Report and Player Ratings

Messi Makes it to 18 World Cup Goals, Cementing Himself into History for the Umpteenth Time

Lionel Messi broke Miroslav Klose's World Cup top scorer record by bagging a brace against Austria to confirm Argentina's qualification for the Round of 32.

Despite missing a penalty within the first 10 minutes, Messi bounced back to score goals at the end of both halves to take his tournament tally to five in 2026, and 18 overall.

Ahead of the fixture in Dallas, Lionel Scaloni confirmed that Nahuel Molina would replace Gonzalo Montiel at right-back, La Albiceleste ’s only change.

Ralf Rangnick drafted Kevin Danso, Michael Gregoritsch, and Paul Wanner into his Austria team. Stefan Posch kept his starting spot despite breaking his jaw against Jordan.

Argentina 2-0 Austria: As It Happened

Lautaro Martinez was handed a number of early opportunities. In the fourth minute, the Inter Milan forward burst into the box before being struck by a meaty double tackle from Posch and Xaver Schlager, sweeping the ball away from his feet.

The Inter Milan striker stayed down injured for several minutes, and the officials at first showed no signs of giving the penalty the Argentinians were arguing for. Finally, in the seventh minute, Egyptian referee Amin Mohamed Omar declared that Martinez was in fact fouled, a controversial decision as replays showed that Posch had connected with the ball.

The events which followed couldn’t have been written by the greatest of scriptwriters as Lionel Messi, set to take the World Cup all-time goalscoring record for himself, stepped up and scooped a lacklustre shot to the right of Alexander Schlager’s net. The stadium erupted into cries of disbelief, but many would argue it was justice served.

The ‘little magician’ was gifted another golden opportunity to score his 17th goal at the global tournament in the 19th minute, bearing down on goal, hopping past an onrushing Konrad Laimer, before letting off a carefully placed finish. The shot was met by Schlager’s outstretched leg, and Argentina’s search for the opener continued.

Marcel Sabitzer - making his 100th appearance for this afternoon - forced the first corner of the game a few minutes later. Although it ultimately resulted in the opposite of a threatening opportunity, it was a sign that the Europeans, and their intense Gegenpress, were growing into the game.

Argentina had the chance to score once again in the 32nd minute thanks to an impeccably timed one-touch pass from Messi, heading straight in Enzo Fernandez’s direction; however, Austria’s keeper, who plays his football for Red Bull Salzburg, managed to dive in and collect the ball first.

At last, after 38 minutes, what felt like the inevitable finally happened as Messi hit home his fourth goal of the tournament, and 121st for Argentina. Almada drove the ball forward, laying it off to Facundo Medina on the left flank, who pulled it back with precision for Messi to guide it deep into the bottom-left corner.

Tempers flared minutes after Argentina broke the deadlock. Posch was brandished a yellow card after he shoulder barged Almada, due to his five-foot-seven frame, in the face. The reigning champions saw out the rest of the first 45 in style, calmly maintaining possession and keeping the Austrians at bay.

Half–time Score - Argentina 1-0 Austria

Five minutes after the restart, Messi was at it again with a marauding run forward; despite Laimer and Schlager’s efforts to stop him, he surpassed them both, but his touch past the keeper was slightly on the heavy side. Regardless, the assistant referee raised his flag for offside.

Sabitzer was next to put a goalkeeper to work as the clock ticked over to the 55th minute; Emiliano Martinez had to dive to his right to save a curling free-kick effort from the Austrian, the speculative strike slightly too central to cause major concern.

Scaloni began to toy with his Argentina side close to the hour mark, Nicolas Otamendi, Julian Alvarez, and Nicolas Gonzalez Fernandez replaced Cristian Romero (nursing a leg injury), Martinez, and Almada.

A questionable piece of officiating occurred in the 65th minute as a Messi shot, which appeared to be tipped out of play by Schlager, resulted in an Austrian goal-kick, much to the dismay of large segments of the stadium. The side who were down a goal then managed to move the ball up the pitch and create a chance with Gregoritsch heading a Sabitzer cross over the bar from point-blank range.

La Albiceleste ’s first corner of the game brought with it another cracking opportunity. Messi’s spinning set-piece met Gonzalez, who pounced on the ball, but his headed attempt flew wide and narrowly missed the target.

Gonzalez continued to make an impact off the bench, finding himself in another extremely promising position in the 86th minute. The Atletico Madrid winger latched onto an excellent pass from Lisandro Martinez, skipping over Danso before the Tottenham defender recovered to produce a well-timed sliding block. Fernandez would then miss the follow-up, and despite a relatively quiet second half, Argentina didn’t look done yet.

Five minutes were added on to the end of the half, and one last chance was presented to Austria. Danso headed a set-piece back across goal, but substitute Patrick Wimmer could only head the ball down and out for a goal-kick.

Austria might’ve missed their final chance of the game, but Argentina and Messi certainly didn’t. After a string of missed attempts from Alvarez and Messi, the Inter Miami forward showed determination to dash onto the follow-up, sliding in to score his second of the game in the fourth minute of injury time. The Dallas Stadium could’ve been mistaken for an arena in Buenos Aires with the noise that followed; and just like that, the game was well and truly up.

Full-time Score - Argentina 2-0 Austria

Argentina Player Ratings

• Emiliano Martínez: 6
• Nahuel Molina: 6
• Cristian Romero: 6
• Lisandro Martínez: 7
• Facundo Medina: 7
• Alexis Mac Allister: 6
• Enzo Fernandez: 7
• Thiago Almada: 7
• Rodrigo De Paul: 6
• Lionel Messi: 9
• Lautaro Martínez: 8

Substitutes:

• Nicolás Otamendi (57’): 6
• Nicolas Gonzalez (64’): 7
• Julian Alvarez (64’): 6
• Leandro Paredes (82’): 5
• Nicolás Tagliafico (82’): 6

Austria Player Ratings

• Alexander Schlager: 5
• Stefan Posch: 3
• Kevin Danso: 6
• David Alaba: 7
• Konrad Laimer: 6
• Nicolas Seiwald: 5
• Xaver Schlager: 5
• Paul Wanner: 5
• Romano Schmid: 6
• Marcel Sabitzer: 6
• Michael Gregoritsch: 6

Substitutes:

• Marco Friedl (68’): 6
• Alexander Prass (68’): 5
• Marko Arnautovic (68’): 6
• Patrick Wimmer (78’): 5
• Carney Chukwuemeka (85’): 6

Man of the Match - Lionel Messi

It’s hard to believe that Messi had only scored five World Cup goals upon his ‘early retirement’ from international duty aged 29. Thankfully, the 38-year-old was convinced not to hang up his boots, and since then has enjoyed scoring 13 goals in his 30s at World Cups in Russia, Qatar, and now North America.

An early penalty miss stopped it from being the perfect performance, missing out on his second consecutive hat-trick of the tournament, but by the end of the match, the world had forgotten about his former failures after being treated to yet another vintage display.

Bad day at the Office - Stefan Posch

Austria’s performance was far from a disaster, but whilst their attack looked relatively toothless, it was the defence which ultimately cost them the match. It’s no easy feat to keep Lautaro Martinez and Julian Alvarez quiet, let alone Messi, but of the entire backline, Posch struggled the most, conceding the early penalty and picking up a yellow card for unsporting conduct before being substituted in the second half.