Lionel Messi to Start on Bench Against Jordan in World Cup

Lionel Messi will watch the start of Argentina’s final Group J game from the sidelines.

Head coach Lionel Scaloni confirmed on Saturday that his captain will not start against Jordan on Sunday, a rare sight in a World Cup where Messi has once again bent the tournament to his will.

“Leo will start on the bench. Leo will come in a little bit later,” Scaloni said, making it clear Argentina’s No. 10 is being held back, not held out.

Messi rests, records stand

Argentina have already done the heavy lifting. Wins over Algeria and Austria secured qualification for the Round of 32 with a game to spare, and Messi has carried the scoreboard almost single-handedly. All five of Argentina’s goals so far belong to him.

Those strikes have pushed him to 18 World Cup goals across six editions, a number that now stands alone in the record books. He drew level with Miroslav Klose’s long-standing mark of 16 with a hat-trick in the 3-0 win over Algeria — his first-ever World Cup treble — then moved clear with both goals in the 2-0 victory over Austria on Monday.

Both of those games, and Sunday’s group finale against Jordan, are being staged at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. It is fast becoming Messi’s personal stage.

Scaloni declined to reveal when he plans to unleash his star or what the rest of his starting XI will look like against Jordan, making their first appearance at a World Cup and still searching for a point after two defeats.

Chasing legends, leaving them behind

Messi’s numbers now read like something out of a different era. He has 201 caps for Argentina and a FIFA-record 28 World Cup appearances. He has scored in six consecutive World Cup matches, joining Just Fontaine and Jairzinho as the only players to manage that feat.

The names he is brushing aside underline the scale of it. Klose needed 24 games to reach his 16 goals, finishing his World Cup story by lifting the trophy in 2014 after Germany’s 1-0 extra-time win over Messi’s Argentina in the final.

Kylian Mbappe, the heir apparent in many eyes, has already muscled his way into that conversation. The France forward matched Klose’s 16-goal tally earlier in this tournament with a brace in a 3-0 win over Iraq. He sits on four goals at this World Cup, though he drew a blank in France’s 4-1 victory over Norway in his final group match.

Messi has already moved past them. The race, for now, is for second place.

Managing the miles

Behind the records lies a simple calculation: how much can Argentina ask of a 37-year-old who still plays like a man unwilling to accept time’s verdict?

Messi arrived at this World Cup after dealing with a minor hamstring issue at Inter Miami, a concern that shadowed his build-up even if it has not shown itself in his performances. Argentina know what is coming if they go deep again — a sprint through the knockout rounds that will test even the deepest squads.

For La Albiceleste, the knockout stage starts next Friday in South Florida. In this expanded 48-team format, a run to the final on July 19 would mean five matches in 17 days from that point. Every sprint, every minute, every collision now has to be weighed.

So Messi will sit, at least at first, while Argentina finish the group phase against a Jordan side still finding its feet on this stage. The crowd in Dallas will wait for the moment the fourth official lifts the board and the greatest player of his generation steps toward the touchline again.

How long Scaloni can keep that card up his sleeve — and how long Messi can keep defying the clock — may decide how far Argentina travel this summer.