Messi's first World Cup hat-trick ties Klose — at 38

The reigning champions' title defense turned into a one-man show. In their Group J opener on June 16 (20:00 local) at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City — branded "Kansas City Stadium" for the tournament — Lionel Messi scored all three goals as Argentina beat Algeria 3-0. There was no own goal and no tap-in from a teammate to a different scorer: a genuine hat-trick. At age 38, he rewrote World Cup history in a single night.

Two early goals were chalked off for offside before the scoring stood — a Messi effort around the 4th minute and an Algeria effort from Fares Chaibi around the 8th — but the opener was Messi's all the same. Latching onto a Rodrigo De Paul through ball, he struck from outside the box to beat goalkeeper Luca Zidane for a 1-0 half-time lead. In the 60th minute he tapped in after Luca Zidane spilled an Alexis Mac Allister shot, and he completed the treble with a finish from the edge of the box on a counter set up by Nico Gonzalez. Algeria's keeper, Luca Zidane — son of Zinedine Zidane — conceded all three while wearing a protective mask following an earlier facial fracture.

The records mattered more than the scoreline. The hat-trick took Messi to 16 career men's World Cup goals (his 14th, 15th and 16th), tying Miroslav Klose's all-time record; he had entered the match on 13. It was the first World Cup hat-trick of Messi's career — his 11th international hat-trick for Argentina overall — and it moved him past Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo to become the active player with the most World Cup goals. At 38, he also became the oldest player to score a men's World Cup hat-trick, breaking Cristiano Ronaldo's previous mark, set at 33 against Spain in 2018.

The night carried other milestones too. Messi became the first player to appear in six men's World Cups — 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026 — surpassing the five shared by Carbajal, Marquez, Guardado, Matthaus, Neuer and Ronaldo. The match was reported as his 200th senior cap for Argentina, coming roughly 20 years after his 2006 World Cup debut against Serbia and Montenegro. Unlike 2022, when the eventual champions began with a shock 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia, Argentina opened this defense in style under coach Lionel Scaloni; Messi was substituted off to a standing ovation around the 78th-79th minute, replaced by Nico Paz. Much of the media framed this as his sixth and likely final World Cup — though that is framing, not a retirement statement from Messi himself.

Live standings and Argentina's qualification scenarios update automatically on the Group J page as results land. The full fixture list, including their next match, is on the schedule page — converted to your own time zone.