For a moment, Dallas Stadium fell silent. Argentina had been handed the perfect opportunity to take control against Austria when VAR pointed to the spot and Lionel Messi stepped up. Few expected what came next. The Argentine captain missed, drawing a stunned reaction from the crowd and briefly shifting the momentum of the match. But while the moment caught many by surprise, it didn’t have the same effect on Lionel Scaloni or his players.

“It wasn’t exactly a blow, but the team had done two or three very good things before that moment,” Scaloni said in his post match press conference. “The penalty move was fantastic, and finishing it would have been even better. We felt that if we had scored, the game would have looked different. But the team responded once again.”

Because after Lionel Messi missed the penalty, Argentina did indeed respond. From the very get-go, the Albiceleste dominated possession and pressed Austria, trying to create something. After the missed penalty, the status quo of the game changed with momentum shifting towards Ralf Rangnick’s side instead. That was before the hydration break, which gave Scaloni a moment to tweak his team’s tactics.

The move worked, as within three minutes of the break, Messi produced a Messi-esque run. Dazzling, with fairy dust in his boots, as he bamboozled an experienced Austrian backline. One that contained Real Madrid’s David Alaba, Tottenham’s Kevin Danso, and Bayern Munich’s Konrad Laimer. Somehow, Austria managed to clear it off the goal-line, offering themselves a reprieve.

It didn’t last long, thirteen minutes to be exact. Another magical move, almost akin to an NBA-esque sequence with rapid, quick passing and Thiago Almada setting a screen. The young Argentine also dummied the ball, knowing that the man of the moment would be there to strike. And indeed he was, putting the finishing touches to a goal that deserved to be a record-breaking one.

Lionel Messi had his record, Argentina had their lead, and once again, Scaloni wasn’t surprised. If anything, he fully expected that to happen, even if Austria had improved after the hydration break.

“We created a few important actions after the penalty,” Scaloni explained. “There were some minutes where it seemed like nothing was happening, but that’s part of this team’s maturity. Missing a penalty hurts, but they know how to react. When Leo switches on, everyone switches on. That’s another merit of this team.”

The Argentine boss was right, and nothing proved that better than Messi and Argentina’s second goal. He would have gotten away with not following through on Julian Alvarez’s shot. It’s exactly why he scored, though, simply because nobody expected him, a man days off from his 39th birthday, to press a 1 in 10 chance of a goal. It meant that he truly owned the record on his own.

Nobody had scored more goals in World Cup finals (men or women) than Lionel Messi, with Marta (17) one behind him. However, while Messi’s brilliance ultimately decided it, Scaloni was quick to point towards another moment he felt proved decisive. The Argentina manager admitted that the hydration break gave his staff a rare opportunity to reset, adjust and influence a match.

Lionel Scaloni on the impact of hydration breaks

For fans in particular, the hydration break has proven to be a cumbersome invention. The same has applied to head coaches and players, although some do see it for what it can offer them. With FIFA having effectively stopped coaches from giving their players tactical instructions during stoppages, the break is their chance to tweak things.

And some have used them brilliantly, with Julian Naglesmann, Luis de la Fuente, and several other head coaches making key tweaks to help adjust their soccer teams. Lionel Scaloni is no stranger to it either, and the Argentine used it effectively during their clash against Algeria.

“Everything that I have in my mind can change depending on these 22, 23 minutes,” Scaloni told reporters before Argentina faced Austria.

“We have people analysing the game, and we look for solutions. It’s what you do in a normal halftime. It’s for those who want to attack because you can amend certain things. It’s weird to adapt to that. It’s something that, if we do it more, it will become normal. I don’t think this is normal to us yet.”

Yet for Scaloni, the missed penalty was never the turning point many assumed it would be. If anything, Argentina’s response after that moment, aided by a tactical reset and inspired by Lionel Messi’s brilliance, was exactly why the reigning world champions walked away with another statement win.