Lionel Messi to Start on Bench in Argentina's Final Group J Match

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

Head coach Lionel Scaloni confirmed on Saturday that his captain will be rested from the opening whistle against Jordan on Sunday, a rare sight in a World Cup where Messi has again been the centre of almost everything Argentina do.

“Leo will start on the bench. Leo will come in a little bit later,” Scaloni said, making it clear that the 37-year-old is not being wrapped in cotton wool entirely, just handled with care.

A breather for a man carrying the goals

If anyone has earned a managed workload, it is Messi. He has scored all five of Argentina’s goals in the tournament so far, dragging the holders through routine wins over Algeria and Austria while casually rewriting the record book.

He hit his first World Cup hat-trick in the 3-0 victory over Algeria, a landmark moment that pulled him level with Miroslav Klose on 16 career World Cup goals. Then came Austria in Arlington. Two more goals in a 2-0 win at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and Klose’s mark was gone. Messi now stands alone on 18 World Cup goals, in just six editions of the tournament.

That same stadium will stage Sunday’s group finale. This time, though, it will host a different kind of Messi performance: one of patience, waiting for his cue.

Jordan’s first World Cup, Argentina already through

Scaloni can afford this luxury. Argentina are already safely into the Round of 32 after back-to-back victories, and Jordan, making their World Cup debut, have lost their first two matches. The stakes for the champions are far lower than usual; the jeopardy belongs to everyone else.

Scaloni did not reveal when Messi might be introduced or what the starting XI will look like against Jordan. The match offers an obvious opportunity to rotate, protect key legs and hand minutes to the supporting cast in a squad that expects to be playing deep into July.

Jordan, for their part, face the full weight of the occasion. Their first World Cup, their third group game, and somewhere on the touchline sits the game’s greatest closer, waiting to be unleashed if needed.

Records, resilience and a long road ahead

Messi’s broader World Cup body of work underlines why Argentina are taking no chances. He has now played a FIFA-record 28 World Cup matches and has scored in six consecutive appearances at the tournament. Only Just Fontaine and Jairzinho had ever done that before.

Klose needed 24 World Cup matches to reach his 16 goals for Germany, finishing his World Cup career with the 2014 title after that 1-0 extra-time win over Messi’s Argentina in the final. Kylian Mbappe has since joined Klose on 16 goals, hitting two in France’s 3-0 win over Iraq at this tournament. Mbappe is on four goals overall in this World Cup, though he drew a blank in France’s 4-1 win over Norway in his final group match.

Messi, meanwhile, keeps adding layers to a career that already defies comparison. His 201 caps for Argentina frame a body of work that stretches across generations, continents and eras of the sport.

Managing the risk

There is also the matter of his body. Messi arrived at this World Cup having recently managed a minor hamstring issue with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer, a niggle that slowed his preparation. There have been no public signs of trouble since the tournament kicked off, but Argentina know what lies ahead if they are to reach another final.

Their knockout campaign starts next Friday in South Florida. In this expanded 48-team format, that match would be the first of five in 17 days if La Albiceleste go all the way to the final on July 19.

That is the schedule Argentina are planning for. That is why, on Sunday, the most decisive player of his generation will begin the evening as a spectator, waiting for the moment when the World Cup once again calls his name.