One Extraordinary Photo: Messi’s ‘Got This’ moment

By: Reed Hoffmann, The Associated Press Posted: 2:41 PM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 17, 2026

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Reed Hoffmann has been a freelance photographer for The Associated Press for more than a quarter of century. Before moving to the Kansas City area, he was a newspaper photographer for 20 years, He covers breaking news in addition to various sporting events for the AP.

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Why this photo?

I’m in the “tribune” position, which means I’m high up in the stands at midfield during the match. As such, I’m the “safety” position, meaning I won’t be blocked by players, so if something important happens and the AP photographers on the field are blocked, I should have photos. This photo was taken after Lionel Messi’s second goal of the game. I though I have a photo of him taking the shot with the goalie in the frame, his back is to me and he’s partially blocked by another player. But reaction is often as important, and sometimes more important, than the action. In this case, I followed him as he ran towards the far sidelines celebrating and captured him standing with his arms extended in front of a partial ad that read: “GOT THIS.”

Argentina's Lionel Messi (10) celebrates after scoring their second goal during the World Cup Group J soccer match between Argentina and Algeria in Kansas City, Mo., Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)

How I made this photo

I was using a Nikon Z9 camera, which at 45-megapixels allows images to be cropped quite a bit and still have plenty of resolution for print and online use. But the most important part of my gear was the lens — a Nikon 400mm f/2.8 with a built-in 1.4X teleconverter. That lets me shoot most of the action at 400mm, but after a goal I can flip a switch on the lens which has me now shooting reaction and celebration tighter, at 560mm and f/4. I did that after the goal as he ran towards the sidelines, for closer framing than I would have gotten with just 400mm. The photo was shot at 1/2000 second, f/4, 5000 ISO.

Why it works

I could see the message board changing as he ran towards it. The “GOT THIS” is only part of an ad slogan, and I only had four frames over two-seconds where that phrase was on the boards, and just one frame where he was positioned best. I knew as I shot it that the words worked with what he’d done. As soon as the celebration finished, I added a voice file to the image (through my camera) and transmitted it to the my editor, Lauren Mackson. She did a great job cropping tight to give it more impact.