Lionel Messi has done it again, scoring his 20th career World Cup goal in Argentina’s round of 32 match against Cape Verde on Friday, extending a record-setting streak and moving closer to his first Golden Boot award.
The 39-year-old Argentine captain scored in the 29th minute at Miami Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, opening his account in a dominant match against the tournament debutants. With that goal, Messi extended his own record for most goals by any man or woman in FIFA World Cup history, surpassing the previous mark he had already set.
The goal marked Messi’s eighth consecutive World Cup match with a goal, the longest such streak in the tournament’s history. This historic run spans across both the 2022 and 2026 World Cups, with Messi scoring 12 goals across his last eight matches in World Cup play. The feat is particularly remarkable given that five of those consecutive matches scoring goals have come in the knockout rounds, a distinction no other player has achieved since World Cup records began being tracked in the 1960s.
Messi’s remarkable performance at this tournament has made him the clear leader in the race for the Golden Boot, awarded to the tournament’s top goalscorer. He has now netted seven goals in the 2026 World Cup, one more than France’s Kylian Mbappé, who previously sat atop the scoring leaderboard alongside him. If the two remain tied on goals when the tournament concludes, FIFA’s tiebreaker rules would first look to the number of assists before considering minutes played.
The goal against Cape Verde was particularly significant for another reason: it continues a personal quest that has eluded Messi throughout his legendary career. He has never won the Golden Boot at a World Cup. In 2022, when Argentina won the tournament, Messi finished second with seven goals, one behind Mbappé. Four years earlier at the 2014 World Cup, he tied for third place with four goals. Now, at 39 years old and in what may be his final World Cup, the Argentine icon has positioned himself to achieve the individual honor that has long been missing from his trophy collection.
Argentina entered Friday’s match undefeated in the group stage, having won all three matches to advance out of Group J with nine points. The defending champions dismantled their opposition, scoring nine goals across the group phase while conceding only once. Messi was the driving force throughout those matches, beginning his tournament with a hat trick against Algeria and adding two more goals in the victory against Austria, records that helped him break the all-time men’s World Cup scoring record previously held by Germany’s Miroslav Klose.
For Cape Verde, the match represented another chapter in a remarkable underdog story. The island nation with a population of just over 500,000 qualified for the round of 32 with three consecutive draws in the group stage, becoming one of only a select few debutants to reach the knockout rounds. They were the second team from their group to advance, finishing behind Spain. Their opponent in Miami was one of the most formidable matchups possible, facing the reigning world champions led by the tournament’s most prolific scorer.
Messi’s performance this World Cup has captured the imagination of fans worldwide. At an age when most players have long since retired from international competition, he continues to rewrite the record books. Fourteen of his 20 World Cup goals have come since his 35th birthday, demonstrating that his finishing ability remains sharp despite the passage of time.
As the tournament progresses through the knockout stages, Messi’s Golden Boot lead will face stiffer competition. Mbappé, Erling Haaland, and Harry Kane are all within striking distance and capable of scoring multiple goals in successive matches. However, with Argentina established as defending champions with a strong path forward, and with Messi in top form, the Argentine legend appears well-positioned to finally claim the individual award that has been missing from his otherwise decorated résumé.
The milestone against Cape Verde underscores Messi’s continued dominance at the global stage. As he aims to lead Argentina to back-to-back World Cup titles, the quest for the Golden Boot remains a secondary storyline—yet one that represents unfinished business for one of soccer’s greatest players.