Messi Chases World Cup Scoring Record as Argentina Face Austria

Argentina and Austria met on Monday evening at AT&T Stadium in Arlington in the second round of World Cup Group J. The Texas venue had already hosted Netherlands vs. Japan and England vs. Croatia, and another high-scoring game was expected. Lionel Messi was again the focus, looking to build on his hat-trick against Algeria and reach 16 World Cup goals, one away from becoming the tournament's all-time top scorer. Lautaro Martinez was set to start alongside him.

Austria came in buoyed by a win over Jordan, but the team knew this opponent was a much bigger challenge. David Alaba was in the starting lineup, while Stefan Posch also started after suffering a broken jaw in the previous match and playing with a protective mask. Marcel Sabitzer was making his 100th appearance for the national team.

Argentina were coached by Lionel Scaloni and lined up in a 4-4-2 with Emiliano Martinez, Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Facundo Medina, Rodrigo De Paul, Thiago Almada, Alexis Mac Allister, Lautaro Martinez and Messi. Austria, under Ralf Rangnick, used a 3-5-2 formation with Alexander Schlager, Posch, Kevin Danso, Alaba, Konrad Laimer, Nicolas Seiwald, Sabitzer, Christoph Baumgartner, Patrick Wanner, Romano Schmid and Michael Gregoritsch.

Before kickoff, Argentina and Austria were level atop Group J with three points each from one match, while Jordan and Algeria had none. The group schedule called for Jordan vs. Algeria on June 23 in San Francisco, then Jordan vs. Argentina in Dallas and Algeria vs. Austria in Kansas City on June 28.