Lionel Messi may be lighting up the World Cup but ranks bottom of the pile for one key stat in North America.
The Argentine is playing an instrumental role – at least on the ball – as the South American powerhouse look to become just the third nation to defend the World Cup.
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Off it, however, he’s hardly pulling his weight.
That’s right, of the 618 players to have registered at least 90 minutes in the group stages, Messi finished 618th for distance run per 90 (8.1 km).
Still, having scored six of their eight goals in the group stages, we like to think the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain star can be forgiven for taking his foot off the gas when Argentina are not in possession.
All the more so when Argentina’s other star players are willing to put in the hard yards.
Did Argentina make it to the knockout stages?
The 2022 champions were drawn against Algeria, Austria and tournament debutants Jordan in Group J.
And Lionel Scaloni’s men kicked off their 2026 campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win over Algeria as Messi bagged a hat-trick against the African nation.
Argentina followed up their opening group stage success with a 2-0 victory over Austria where Messi, again, shone, scoring twice to become the all-time World Cup goalscorer in the process.
Finally, the defending champions saw out their group with a 3-1 victory against Jordan.
Messi started the game on the bench but came on to wrap up the three points with a well-struck free-kick with 10 minutes to go as the iconic forward battles Kylian Mbappe for the Golden Boot.
Victory saw Argentina progress to the round-of-32 as group winners with a 100 per cent record and just one goal conceded
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It means they’ll now face another nation in their maiden World Cup campaign as they gear up to face Cape Verde at 11pm BST on Friday night.
Argentina’s route to the final
Argentina face a relatively straight-forward route to the 2026 World Cup final should they get the better of Cape Verde this week.
The winner of their clash in Miami, home of Messi’s current side Inter Miami, will take on either Egypt or Australia in their last-16 clash.
Overcome that obstacle, and one of Switzerland, Algeria, Colombia or Ghana await Scaloni’s men.
Then, if they progress beyond the quarter-finals, they may yet take on Brazil or England in the semi-finals.
Finally, there is the possibility of a repeat of the 2022 final, with France drawn on the other side of the bracket.
That same bracket contains Euro 2024 winners Spain and European powerhouse Portugal, who face Austria and Croatia in their respective round-of-32 showdowns tonight.
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