Lionel Messi scored his second ‘bis’ with Argentina in four days on Tuesday, again in the United States, this time against Jamaica (3-0), reaching 90 goals for the main albiceleste team.
Or seven times ‘Bola de Ouro’ entered 56 minutes, in time to score twice, to the madness of the public that entered Red Bull Arena, in Harrison, where, sparsely, various spectators invaded or relieved, to beat Messi, some successfully.
Despite the short time on the pitch, the Paris Saint-Germain player did not disappoint and -after the first two attempts that Andre Blake stopped, without major difficulties, in the 68th and 83rd minutes- he scored in the 86th, with a low shot from outside the area, which sent the ball to the left post.
Three minutes later, in minute 89, Messi was very close to the Jamaican area and he himself charged a direct free kick, for the ‘bis’, with another low shot to the post, this time from the right, with no chance for Blake. .
With the two goals against Jamaica, after the two against Honduras, four days ago, and the five against Estonia, closing 2021/22, the former FC Barcelona player went on to have 90 with Argentina, in 164 games, to surpass Mokhtar Dahari , who has 89 for Malaysia, and isolates himself in third place among the best scorers of the national teams.
In front of him, the six-time ‘Golden Shoe’, who has 10 goals and nine assists in 13 games in 2022/23, now only has the Iranian Ali Daei (109 goals in 148 games), and the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, who accounts for 27 goals more than the Argentine (117), but also in 27 more games played (191).
Against Messi again ‘partying’, applauded when he was going to warm up at the beginning of the second half, when he entered and with each touch of the ball, Argentina was already ahead, thanks to a goal by Julián Álvarez, in the 13th minute, served by Lautaro Martinez.
Coach Lionel Scaloni opted for Benfica’s Otamendi, who played the 90 minutes in the center of defense alongside Romero, and once again gave playing time to the also ‘incarnated’ Enzo Fernández, launched in the 55th minute, replacing Guido Rodriguez.
As a whole, Argentina increased its unbeaten record to 35 games (24 wins and 11 draws), which is already more than three years old: the last defeat occurred on July 2, 2019, in the semifinals of the penultimate edition of the Copa América.
The team led by Lionel Scaloni equaled the record for undefeated games held by Brazil (1993/96) and Spain (2007/09), placing it just two behind the world record, which belongs to Italy (37, between 2018 and 2021).
Source: TSF
