Argentina has racked up 8 penalties in their last 12 World Cup matches, a figure no other national team has achieved in a comparable span. For anyone keeping score at home, that’s roughly one penalty every 135 minutes of tournament football.
The defending champions received 5 penalties during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the most any single nation has ever been awarded in a single tournament. They’ve already added 3 more in the ongoing 2026 edition.
The numbers behind the record
Lionel Messi has missed 2 penalties in the 2026 World Cup. Those misses came against Austria and Egypt, marking a record for penalty misses by a single player in one World Cup edition (excluding shootouts).
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