Messi Stands Alone as All-Time Leading Scorer in South American World Cup Qualifying

Thirty-six goals. That's the number separating Lionel Messi from everyone else in the history of South American World Cup qualifying. No other player, in what's widely considered the toughest qualifying gauntlet on the planet, has scored as many goals wearing the Argentina jersey.

The number itself is striking, but what stands out even more is the gap he's opened up over second place on the list. That spot belongs to none other than Luis Suarez, his longtime friend, former Barcelona teammate and now teammate again at Inter Miami. The Uruguayan has scored 29 goals for La Celeste in World Cup qualifying, a remarkable mark in its own right, yet still seven goals shy of Messi.

How does a gap like that happen? Part of the answer is simply staying power. Messi has been a fixture for Argentina through more than a decade of qualifying cycles, from the campaign for South Africa 2010 all the way through to the current one, and in each cycle he kept adding key goals, plenty of them at moments when the team needed him most. It's not just the volume, it's how often he showed up exactly when Argentina needed him to.

The Podium and Who's Chasing

Third place on this all-time list belongs to Bolivia's Marcelo Moreno Martins, with 22 goals in qualifying. That number deserves recognition too, especially considering Bolivia hasn't always fielded rosters as competitive as Argentina, Brazil or Uruguay, and yet its top forward still managed to stay among the competition's all-time leading scorers.

What ties Messi and Suarez together adds an extra layer to all this. They're friends, they've shared locker rooms at two different clubs, and now they share something else too: they're the top two scorers this competition has ever produced. It's rare for two players this close off the field to end up competing, even indirectly, for a place in the history books.

Messi has spoken before about what it means to him to represent Argentina every time he's called up, beyond whatever numbers he adds along the way.

Every time I get to play for the national team I feel the same responsibility and the same excitement as day one.Lionel Messi

With Argentina already assured of a leading role in the qualifying process and Messi still active with the national team, 36 goals doesn't look like a final ceiling. Every match he adds to his tally can keep stretching a lead that, for now, already leaves him alone at the top of a story that began being written long before he ever made his debut.