Argentine talisman Lionel Messi is destined to go past a quartet of his fellow legendary countrymen in Gabriel Batistuta, Diego Maradona, Guillermo Stabile and Mario Kempes, at least in terms of scoring World Cup goals.
Batistuta is the leading Argentine scorer in the World Cup with 10 goals followed by Maradona and Stabile, who both have eight goals each. Kempes is a spot behind in third with six goals, all scored in the title-winning 1978 World Cup.
Messi has scored four goals so far in this World Cup, netting twice against Nigeria and one each against Iran and Bosnia to go with his single strike against Serbia in the 2006 World Cup when he came on as a substitute in a convincing 6-0 win. He was a dejected man in the previous World Cup in South Africa as he failed to register a single goal.
Trailing Messi with four goals are Jorge Valdano, Leopoldo Luque, Rene Houseman, Gonzalo Higuain, Hernan Crespo, Claudio Caniggia and Daniel Bertoni.
