Lionel Messi to Start on Bench for Argentina vs Jordan

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

Head coach Lionel Scaloni confirmed on Saturday that his captain will be rested for Sunday’s clash with World Cup debutants Jordan, a dead rubber for the holders after two wins from two against Algeria and Austria.

“Leo will start on the bench. Leo will come in a little bit later,” Scaloni said, making it clear that Messi is not being wrapped in cotton wool entirely, just given a breather.

A rare pause for a relentless scorer

Messi has carried Argentina’s attack through the group phase with ruthless efficiency. All five of La Albiceleste’s goals so far belong to him. Two games, two wins, five strikes. No one else has found the net.

Those goals have pushed him into territory that once felt unreachable. The hat-trick in the 3-0 victory over Algeria delivered his first treble at a World Cup and pulled him level with Miroslav Klose’s long-standing record of 16 tournament goals. He did not stay there for long. His double in the 2-0 win over Austria at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys took him to 18, out on his own.

That same stadium in Arlington will stage the group finale against Jordan. This time, it will start without the man who has defined the competition.

Scaloni kept the rest of his plans close. He declined to reveal his full lineup or when exactly Messi might enter the game, leaving Jordan to guess how long they will be spared the sight of the No. 10 drifting between their lines.

Records, legends and the chase behind him

Klose needed 24 World Cup matches across four tournaments to set his mark, finishing his run by lifting the trophy in 2014 after Germany’s 1-0 extra-time win over Messi’s Argentina in the final. Messi has now gone past him in his sixth World Cup, rewriting the record book one goal at a time.

The pursuit does not end there. Kylian Mbappe briefly drew level with Klose on 16 with his brace in France’s 3-0 win over Iraq. The French forward sits on four goals in this tournament but drew a blank in France’s 4-1 victory over Norway in his final group game, giving Messi a clear edge in the race for the all-time summit.

Messi’s wider body of work with Argentina remains staggering. He has 201 caps, more than any player in the country’s history, and holds a FIFA record with 28 World Cup appearances. He has scored in six consecutive World Cup matches, joining an elite trio that includes Just Fontaine and Jairzinho. Only those three have ever managed such a streak.

Managing the long road ahead

This decision to rest him is not made in isolation. Messi arrived at the tournament after nursing a minor hamstring issue with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer. It did not stop him from exploding out of the blocks in the group stage, but Argentina know the demands that lie ahead.

If La Albiceleste are to march back to another World Cup final in this expanded 48-team format, they face a punishing schedule: five knockout games in 17 days, starting next Friday in South Florida. Every sprint, every minute, every collision now has to be weighed against that looming gauntlet.

Jordan, beaten in their first two matches at their maiden World Cup, will hope Messi’s delayed entrance offers a sliver of opportunity. Argentina, already safely into the Round of 32, can afford to rotate, experiment, and protect their star.

Messi will almost certainly appear at some point, because he always does. The question now is not whether he will shape this World Cup, but how much energy he will have left when the real pressure begins.