Birthday Boy at 39: Can Messi Conjure More Magic for Argentina?

DALLAS — Most footballers spend their 39th birthday on a beach, a microphone, or a golf course. Lionel Messi spent the eve of his on top of World Cup history. Messi turned 39 while standing atop the sport's grandest stage, becoming the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history after scoring twice in a 2-0 victory over Austria in Dallas, raising his tournament total to 18 goals and moving past Germany legend Miroslav Klose. The defending champions are through to the knockouts, their talisman is leading the Golden Boot race, and a question that felt absurd a year ago now hangs over the tournament: can he really do it all over again?

The perfect present

The timing could hardly have been scripted better. Messi gave himself the perfect present just before his 39th birthday, his latest goals breaking Klose's record of 16 to become the all-time leading scorer in men's World Cup history. His start to this edition has been little short of absurd. He opened with a hat-trick in a 3-0 win against Algeria, then followed it with two goals against Austria — meaning he has scored all five of Argentina's goals in the tournament.

That dependence on their captain might worry some sides. For Argentina, it has become a familiar comfort, and the dressing room speaks of him with something close to disbelief. "Impressive. He's impressive," Lisandro Martínez said. "He deserves it for what he does, what he shows game by game. He has us accustomed." Leandro Paredes echoed the sentiment simply: “He doesn't stop surprising us.”

Better than ever — at 39

The most remarkable part of the story is not that Messi is still scoring, but that he appears to be improving with age. Now in his record sixth tournament appearance, he somehow looks better than ever, allowing the holders to dream of winning it again. The numbers behind that claim are extraordinary. More than 70 per cent of his World Cup goals — 13 of 18 — have come since he turned 30, and he has scored twice as many across the last two tournaments as in the previous four combined.

His birthday brought a flood of records that underline the point. His hat-trick against Algeria made him the oldest player to score a treble in World Cup history at 38 years and 357 days, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo, and he is also now the oldest player to score a brace in the competition. Beyond the goals, his all-round influence dwarfs his peers. Messi has created 78 chances across his World Cup career, the most of any player since the data was first recorded in 1966, and is the only player ever to eclipse 2,000 touches at the tournament.

That this is happening at all is a minor miracle, given the uncertainty that preceded it. This is a player who did not even appear certain to feature; his silence in the months before the tournament fuelled speculation he might not participate at all. Instead, he has answered the question of his place in the GOAT debate in the most emphatic terms.

Magic woven into history

There is a poetry to Messi's records that elevates them beyond mere statistics. The Austria brace landed on a date heavy with meaning. Messi broke the all-time record almost 20 years to the day after he scored his first World Cup goal in 2006, and on the exact 40th anniversary of Diego Maradona's infamous "Hand of God" goal on the way to Argentina's 1986 triumph. His second strike that night carried its own footnote. He scored in injury time to surpass Brazil's Marta and become the leading all-time scorer across men's and women's World Cup history.

The occasion was treated as the event it was. Dallas Stadium played a montage of Messi's previous 16 goals on the big screens before kickoff, and at full time a 70,000-strong crowd welcomed his celebratory lap with teammates.

The road ahead — and the dream

So, can he conjure more? The schedule offers him every chance to keep climbing. Argentina secured their place in the round of 32 ahead of schedule and will face Jordan in their final group match, a fixture in which Messi will be expected to add to his tally. The momentum behind the holders is undeniable. Their victory over Austria extended Argentina's World Cup winning streak to eight matches, dating back to the opening loss to Saudi Arabia in 2022.

The truly tantalizing prospect lies further out. If Argentina reach the final and Messi plays all eight matches, his current rate would put him on pace for 20 goals in a single tournament — a figure that would shatter Just Fontaine's 1958 record of 13 by seven. It is a projection bordering on fantasy, and yet, with this player, fantasy has a habit of becoming record.

What seems certain is that this is the final act. At 39, in his sixth and surely last World Cup, Messi is racing the clock and beating it. Fatherhood, he says, reshaped his outlook: "As a human being, having three children changed my perspective on life, my way of thinking, and it also helped me grow." That perspective has not dimmed the hunger. If anything, it has sharpened it.

Argentina's fans, and the watching world, are left to wonder how much more there can be. Messi is only getting better with age and with every World Cup, and for as long as that remains true, the dream of a second consecutive title — and a fairytale farewell — will only grow louder. On his 39th birthday, the only safe prediction about Lionel Messi is that he is not finished writing history just yet.