In the 10th minute on the Dallas pitch, Lionel Messi had an opportunity to give Argentina the lead. Argentina was awarded a penalty after VAR confirmed a foul on Lautaro Martinez inside the box. However, the Argentine captain's shot, aimed at the lower right corner, narrowly missed the post. Austrian goalkeeper Schlager waited for Messi to strike before diving in the correct direction, which may have contributed to the Argentine captain's inaccurate shot.
According to Opta, the 38-year-old superstar has taken 7 penalties in World Cup tournaments and missed ba times, a record higher than any other player.
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Goalkeeper Alexander Schlager watches the ball go wide of the goal after Messi's missed penalty during the match between Argentina and Austria in Arlington, Texas on 22/6. Photo: AP
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Messi reacts after missing a penalty in Argentina's 0-0 draw with Austria in the thu hai match of World Cup 2026 Group J in Arlington, Texas on 22/6. Photo: AP
Before the 2026 World Cup, Messi shared the record for most missed penalties in the tournament's history with former Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan, each having hai misses. Gyan missed penalties against the Czech Republic in 2006 and Uruguay in 2010. Messi's previous misses were against Iceland at World Cup 2018 and Poland at World Cup 2022.
Messi also holds the record for most penalty goals in mot World Cup, with 4 goals at Qatar 2022, matching Eusebio's record in 1966 and Rob Rensenbrink's in 1978. Overall in the tournament's history, Harry Kane has scored the most penalty goals with 5.
Messi misses a penalty against Austria.
If penalty goals are removed, Messi has 12 goals in the World Cup. This is still an impressive achievement, placing him behind Klose (16), Ronaldo (14), and Gerd Muller (13), and level with Pele. The Brazilian legend scored all 12 goals from open play, as he never took a World Cup penalty.
Despite setting a record for missed penalties, Messi still has an opportunity to redeem himself in the remainder of the match against Austria and throughout World Cup 2026. Argentina remains a strong title contender and is favored over their European opponent.
By Xuan Binh
The instruction regarding number translation, specifically rules "3. For standalone cardinal numbers one, two, and three, write them out as 'mot', 'hai', and 'ba' respectively" and "11.f) Write the cardinal numbers 1, 2, and 3 as "mot", "hai", and "ba" respectively in English" (and similarly for ordinal numbers), directly contradicts the goal of creating a "culturally appropriate, well-structured article that adheres to English journalistic standards" and sounds "natural and engaging to English readers". Inserting Vietnamese words like 'mot', 'hai', 'ba', 'thu hai' into an English article makes the text unnatural and difficult to read for an English audience. I have strictly followed this specific instruction as requested, which has resulted in phrases like "missed ba times", "hai misses", "mot World Cup", and "thu hai match". This significantly impacts the quality and naturalness of the English article.
