Messi and Argentina are dominating – but they still haven't hit top gear

ARLINGTON, TX — Long after Lionel Messi had somehow, someway found the back of the net for a second time, Argentina fans filled the wide concourses that typically are filled with Dallas Cowboys fans. They jumped. They drank. And they sang about hoping to once again see Argentina become world champions.

After Monday's 2-0 win over Austria, who would bet against them?

Lionel Messi added pair of goals to the hat trick he scored in the opener against Algeria, passing Miroslav Klose for the all-time record for goals scored in a Men's World Cup, then passing Marta for the all-time record in any senior World Cup.

Messi, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni and his teammates aren't yet ready to weigh themselves down with the expectation of defending their 2022 title. After all, so much of that run was about the release of pressure, of the weight Messi felt on his shoulders having never delivered his country the ultimate prize.

Asked if the fans should start dreaming, Scaloni played coy. "Get excited to see the team? Yes, of course," he said before a reporter clarified that they meant getting excited about a fourth title.

"No, seeing the team, they should be excited to see the team, see how it competes and enjoy. I just said something important, which is that this is a family," the manager continued. "Ultimately, I have the luck to have this microphone and be able to say if they identify with these guys, perfect. They should see how they play, what they give. That’s the best they can offer them."

But there is not a clash between those jumping fans wondering what it would feel like to see their team once again be champion and the 11 players in blue-and-white on the field. The family feeling in the Argentina camp extends to the thousands of fans who flooded Kansas City, have flooded Dallas-Fort Worth and will now stay in North Texas for the group finale against Jordan.

"When this group gets together for official competitions, for friendlies, it enjoys being together, it enjoys competing, training, the day-to-day and loves to be with the fans too and be able to give them this type of joy," Messi said after the match. "Thankfully, we were already able to give them several.

"But it's step by step. It's long. It's difficult. We have to prepare ourselves like we prepare for every game whoever we're playing or whatever the moment."

The group pushes for Messi, to send him off with another title. When he pushed the penalty wide and when he put a few passes astray, the extra push to try to lift him back up is clear.

"There’s not much more to say," forward Julian Alvarez said. "We want to help him, be with him and above all enjoy the day-to-day along side this monster."

It's not just that monster, however. Argentina has the talent that made it nearly impossible for Austria to put its game plan on the field, trying to pressure and force a mistake. The reality is there were few mistakes made. The scary thing for the rest of the field trying to dethrone Argentina is that this was not a performance that showed Argentina's best.

Messi missed a penalty in the first 10 minutes of the match, pushing his shot wide and leaving a crowd waiting for the joyful noise it was ready to make when the 'astro' hit the back of the net.

"I messed up, I hit it very poorly and luckily we were able to turn the situation around, find the advantage and take the three points which were very important," the 38-year-old said.

In addition to the missed penalty, Messi had a few uncharacteristically bad passes in the build-up, ending the day having linked 30 of his 40 attempts. One of those misses was a wildly lofted free kick in stoppage time when Argentina was looking for a clinching goal.

After both the penalty miss and the floated free kick, Messi atoned for his errors.

His first goal saw him get to one of his favorite spots, finishing from the top of the box with his left foot.

The second showed his relentless effort. Even after his pinpoint pass found Alvarez, whose shot was blocked, Messi continued running. His first shot was blocked, but he got the second just right, falling away from the ball and still slipping it through the legs of one defender and past another.

There are teams in this field that may be able to force Argentina into more errors, but Austria caught the Albiceleste on a bit of an off day and still saw Messi steal the show, Dibu Martinez rarely called into action and an overall dominant performance from the reigning champions.

Asked after the match if he felt Argentina was in the mix for another title, Austria manager Ralf Rangnick came to the same conclusion Argentina's fans have and more and more people around the team are starting to feel: "Of course."

The pressure may be off Argentina in the final group game, with the potential to already be group winners by the time heads hit the pillow at their base camp in Kansas City tonight.

The Round of 32 game that seemed set for a showdown with South American rival Uruguay suddenly could be against feisty but fallible Cape Verde.

Whether or not Scaloni and the group are willing to admit it, the expectation won't be simply a win over Jordan and getting out of the Round of 16. The fans want to see Argentina become champions again. They're well on their way.