KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lionel Messi made sure that Argentina‘s 2026 World Cup started far differently than it did four years ago.
Messi scored all three goals in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria on Tuesday night. After cutting through the middle of Algeria’s defense for his first goal early in the first half, Messi doubled the lead in the 60th minute when he pounced on a rebound off a long shot by Alexis Mac Allister.
That goal sealed the game for Argentina. But Messi wasn’t done. Sixteen minutes after dipping his second past goalie Luca Zidane, he added a third with an incredibly well-placed left-footed shot to Zidane’s right for the first hat trick of his World Cup career.
The goals were Messi’s 14th, 15th and 16th in the World Cup as he moved past Kylian Mbappé to become the active player with the most World Cup goals. And now Messi is tied with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the most goals ever scored at the World Cup.
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It’s a record he’s going to break in the group stage if Argentina plays like it did against Algeria in its next two games.
In 2022, Argentina was stunned 2-1 by Saudi Arabia to start the World Cup. It was the upset of the tournament and raised serious questions if Messi would ever win a World Cup.
Those questions quickly disappeared over the next six games, as Argentina easily made the knockout rounds and then defeated France in penalty kicks to win the country’s first World Cup since 1986.
Much of that same team is back for 2026 and the continuity showed against an overmatched opponent. Argentina and Messi frequently capitalized on the space left by Algeria’s defense. Messi had a goal in the opening minutes ruled out for an offside and nearly got a hat trick sooner than he did after he forced an acrobatic save from Zidane.
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After playing every minute of the 2022 World Cup, Messi was able to get a breather on Tuesday night. With one more knockout round game looming on the road to consecutive World Cups, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni took Messi off to raucous applause in the 79th minute.
