We’ll have a whopping seven added minutes at the end of the first half. Austria are looking to increase the tempo.

43 mins: Danso is a bit late on Messi. Austria are losing their discipline somewhat here.

Mac Allister than bundles over Schmid, mind you. Stop-start doesn’t quite cover it.

42 mins: I know Argentina missed a penalty as well as scoring but I honestly think 1-0 is a bit harsh on Austria. The holders haven’t created very much.

41 mins: Posch is the first player to be booked and I’m surprised it’s taken so long. Equally surprised that an Argentina player hasn’t been booked with the amount of fouls they’ve committed.

Almada set it up really nicely, laying off to the left and then stepping over the cutback from Medina. The finish was vintage Messi, tucked away with his left foot, minimum of fuss.

The missed penalty is already ancient history. Messi sit top of the World Cup scoring tree.

38 mins: Replays show that Romero careless caught Gregoritsch with a stray elbow on the back of his head. Not like him, is it?

It’s still a bit of a scruffy game in Dallas.

37 mins: Lautaro and Fernández nearly link up after a fine through-ball found the Inter captain. Austria are so good at getting bodies back, though.

35 mins: Enzo Fernández, of course, is also dictating the tempo but it’s a bit one-paced at the moment. Other than Lautaro up top, there isn’t a great deal of pace about this Argentina side. They miss Julian Alvarez.

34 mins: Argentina have finally managed to find a modicum of control. The likes of De Paul and Mac Allister are getting on the ball.

32 mins: Messi just cushioned a first-time volleyed touch into the path of Almada that nearly brought the opener. How did he even see that pass? Schlager actually reacted to it well, coming off his line to get there first.

On the penalty, David Ward has emailed me just to say “Ronaldo wouldn’t have missed that”.

No, but on current form he would have missed everything else.

29 mins: The Austrian midfield are so compact, so energetic, that Argentina simply cannot play through them. The World Cup holders are reliant on counter-attacks through to Messi and Lautaro – and even they’re few and far between.

27 mins: We’re back under way after three minutes well spent having a sip of water.

As promised, while the players have their drinkypoos:

“As much as I am glad Messi did not break Klose’s record on a penalty, I think the decision was the right one. The defender on Martinez’s left side slid in his foot and it blocked Martinez’s attempt to shoot before it flicked the ball away. The player on the right side was the one bringing him down, but the damage was done before.” João André

“Messi takes penalties because he’s the icon. He’s missed the most ever apparently. Speaking as a Brighton fan, Mac Allister was excellent…” – Roger Kay

Hydration break time. I might have my own, given the sweltering conditions in south Manchester right now. I’ll get to a couple of your emails too …

23 mins: Stefan Posch, like his right-back counterpart from England Djed Spence, is wearing a chin protector. Quite scary, those things.

Sabitzer pings a low shot into bodies after arriving late in the box and Austria have the game’s first corner. They’re doing OK, the European side.

21 mins: Nobody can keep hold of the ball, or avoid making a foul, for more than 30 seconds in this game. The ref might start handing his cards out soon.

19 mins: Magnificent feet from Messi and Argentina and their star man nearly have their goal. Schlager in the Austrian net smothers it to safety.

It was flicked into his path by Lautaro – the first real sense that the strike pair are dovetailing together.

16 mins: I know this is an obvious thing to say at this stage in his career, but Messi offers so little in defence it’s frightening. Austria are so different – every man is engaged in a pretty fierce press.

15 mins: Marcel Sabitzer, winning his 100th Austria cap today, whips in the delivery from the left, low, but it’s at the near post and easily scuffed clear.

14 mins: Austria are enjoying their best spell at the moment. Danso is putting himself about from centre-back and Argentina are struggling to escape, making a number of fouls. Wanner is tripped by Molina on the left-hand edge of the area.

11 mins: Speaking of Messi … this game has been very messy since it restarted after the penalty. Austria need to calm down and get a foothold in it.

10 mins: It was a horribly taken spot-kick by the great man, shanked well wide after a stuttery slow run-up. Maybe that’s justice, as the penalty decision seemed a little harsh on Austria.

Take a breath everyone. One we go.

I wonder who will be taking this penalty?

PENALTY TO ARGENTINA! After a long old wait, the referee is sent across to the screen to review his decision. It’s a funny one as one of the sliding Austrian defenders got a touch on the ball but the other brought Lautaro Martinez down. Given it!

VAR CHECK: Amin Mohamed Omar didn’t give the penalty but the video assistants want a look at this one.

5 mins: Lovely play from Molina at right-back gets Argentina going. It was a delicious flick and run and the sequence ended with Lautaro going down in the box after Messi’s through-ball. The referee does nothing other than to stop play to check Lautaro is OK.

It didn’t look like a penalty to me. Two Austrian players, Posch and Schlager, slid in.

3 mins: Almada can only find the side netting with an early effort, as the teams get to grips with each other. High pressing on both sides so far.

1 min: I still don’t think we’ve had a game in this tournament that’s kicked off on time. This was pretty close to it, in fairness. Messi starts the game with a little stroll up the pitch. No wasting energy at this stage.

The stadium is mostly full of Argentina fans and they’re making an almighty noise. It’s hard not to paint this as an occasion that’s all about Lionel Messi … but plenty will have come just to see him play today. Kick-off next.

Here come the teams out of the tunnel and the pre-match pomp and ceremony is beginning, anthems et al.

A Messi-related email has landed from David Wall:

I’ve got to take issue with your description of Messi’s hat-trick in the opening game as brilliant. I’ll give you the third was high quality but the other two were pretty much chucked in by the Algerian goalkeeper. It’s the lowest value World Cup hat-trick since Harry Kane’s in 2018 against Panama (one header from about six yards, one penalty, and one that deflected off his heel when he was trying to get out of the way). Add in the fact that he was incredibly fortunate not to be sent off (presumably the VAR trained on footage from one of those old-fashioned all-village kickabouts), and I thought the hype about his performance was massively over the top. If Argentina are going to continue with their approach of tailoring the team to get the most out of Messi (even though Julián Álvarez is a much more effective forward now) then he’ll need to do a lot more than he showed against Algeria if they’re going to retain the trophy.

Lionel Messi overhyped?! Surely not.

The BBC commentary team on duty for this game (for UK viewers), Steve Bower and Danny Murphy, are perched up high in the Dallas Stadium wearing what seems like a polo shirt uniform.

“Austria are going to be high-energy,” is Murphy’s pearl of wisdom, also believing “Argentina are going to try and find Messi” with the ball. Take from that what you will.

Please sit down with a cold beverage and enjoy Nick Ames’ preview of the game. I particularly enjoyed this passage.

The scene is set for Messi to imbue the date with fresh significance. Scaloni was asked what he would wish for his captain, who is competing here while his father, Jorge, undergoes medical treatment, when he turned 39 on Wednesday. “My wish is for him to be happy,” he said. Messi and Argentina, both in radiant form, aim to continue bringing the joy.

Conceding a goal to Jordan – ranked 68th in the world – probably isn’t filling Austrian fans with confidence ahead of facing Lionel Messi, who will surely become the World Cup’s most prolific goalscorer sooner rather than later. No offence to Jordan, but this is Messi we’re talking about here.

I guess the question for Argentina is where their goals come from if Messi has an off day. Lautaro Martínez can be profligate, missing as often as scoring, and the 4-4-2 shape that Lionel Scaloni likes can make it hard for the midfielders to get in on the scoring action. Thiago Almada will have to provide a threat from the left, but the Atlético Madrid wideman only managed four goals and two assists across 40 club appearances in all competitions in the season just gone.

Romano Schmid may not have been a name familiar to many outside Austria and Germany before this World Cup, but he got his nation’s tournament off to an eye-catching start with a stellar strike from distance against Jordan. He starts on the right-wing today.

Swot up on Austria before the game with our handy team guide. Led by Ralf Rangnick, the high priest of high pressing himself, they are a super solid outfit, keen to enjoy their first World Cup since 1998 after qualifying for three successive European Championships.

While we’re counting down to kick-off, I will share the official Austria World Cup anthem, which my colleague Daniel Harris shared with me. It’s an absolute bop in fairness.

Austria’s rivalry with Germany is such that they may not be too upset if Messi scores today … as he will surpass Miroslav Klose’s World Cup scoring record. Then-again, there is a big German flavour to this Austrian side with Rangnick in charge and of course many of their players based in the German Bundesliga.

Aside from conceding a sloppy goal to tournament debutants Jordan, Austria were fairly impressive in their first group outing. Defeat today. however, would set up a nervy final game against Algeria, where qualification for the knockout rounds will likely be on the line. The two other Group J teams meet in several hours’ time in San Francisco.