Historic Seven: Peerless Lionel Messi rewrites World Cup history with another golden record

Lionel Messi once again made history by becoming the first footballer to score seven goals in two different editions of the World Cup. (AP Photo) Just when you think Lionel Messi has conquered all mountain soccer offers, the Argentine maestro invents a new peak. Messi’s clinical 29th-minute strike against resilient Cape Verde on Saturday not only ignited Argentina’s journey to the last 16 as he rewrote the fabric of international football history, becoming the first player ever to score seven goals in two different World Cups.The talismanic forward, who famously scored seven goals during Argentina’s fairytale run to Qatar 2022, replicated that exact goal-scoring ruthlessness in 2026. His sensational finish under the Miami lights took his current tournament tally to seven, moving one ahead of France’s Kylian Mbappé in the wild race for the Golden Boot and extending his record career World Cup total to 20 goals.No other footballer in the history of the beautiful game, not Pelé, Diego Maradona or modern icons, has managed to achieve such stunning consistency of shooting across multiple World Cup tournaments. While most players consider a seven-goal comeback in a single World Cup a lifetime achievement, Messi has turned the exceptional into a routine expectation.His performance on Saturday also extended his record World Cup scoring streak to eight consecutive games, demonstrating an unrivaled longevity that completely defies his age. Dipping deep to set up the play before making a perfectly timed, ghostly foray into the box, Messi controlled Lisandro Martínez’s lofted pass with typical elegance before slotting it past experienced Cape Verdean goalkeeper Vozinha.For more than two decades, Messi has traded in miracles, but this latest milestone cements his place in the statistics of a masterpiece poem that is all his own. As the defending champions march into Atlanta to face Egypt on Tuesday, the soccer world is watching in awe. Argentina may be struggling for results, but with a captain operating at historic lethality levels, La Albiceleste look great.