Defending champions Argentina will face Austria on Monday (12:00 local time, 17:00 GMT) at the Dallas, Texas stadium in the second round of Group J matches at the 2026 World Cup.
Lionel Messi, who scored a hat-trick in the opening win over Algeria, continues to lead Argentina. At 38, Messi is playing in his sixth World Cup and scored all three goals to help Argentina overcome their North African opponents. With these three goals, he equalled Miroslav Klose's record for the most goals in World Cup history (16).
On the other side, Austria, under coach Ralf Rangnick, also started well with a 3-1 victory over Jordan. Both Argentina and Austria have three points, but Argentina top the group on goal difference.
Argentina's assistant coach Pablo Aimar warned that Austria is a very different opponent to Algeria: "Austria is a very strong team, like most of the teams in this World Cup."
Austria captain David Alaba also stressed: "We know the quality of our opponents, not only Messi but the whole team."
According to the Opta supercomputer, Argentina have a 60.1% chance of winning, while Austria have just 17.6%. The two sides have never met in a competitive tournament; their most recent encounter was a 1990 friendly (1-1 draw).
On the personnel front, Argentina may be without right-back Gonzalo Montiel due to a hamstring injury, with Nahuel Molina ready to replace him. Austria are missing Stefan Posch due to a fractured jaw.
The match will be broadcast live on: Telefe, TV Publica, TyC Sports (Argentina); ORF and ServusTV (Austria); BBC One, BBC iPlayer (UK); Fox Sports, Telemundo (USA).
