A historic night in Kansas City as Lionel Messi kicked off Argentina’s 2026 FIFA world cup title defence in a spectacular fashion, netting a spectacular hat-trick in a 3-0 victory over Algeria at Arrowhead Stadium. In doing this Messi officially tied all time world cup record and breaks the oldest hat trick record.
Messi has now scored 16 career World cup goals, drawing level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the most goals scored in world cup history. In what was the Argentine’s 200 caps for Argentina, he also became the oldest player (38) to score a hat-trick in men’s FIFA World cup history with Messi breaking Cristiano Ronaldo (33) record at the 2018 edition of the World cup with Ronaldo iconic hat-trick against Spain in Russia.
By stepping onto the pitch, Messi also became the first male footballer in history to feature in six different world cup editions (Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014, Russia 2018, The Famous Qatar 2022 triumph for Argentina and now 2026 edition co-host by USA, Canada and Mexico)
Next up for Argentina is a clash with Austria who defeated Jordan 3-1 with 37years old Marko Arnaurovic netting the third for Austria from the penalty spot having have a goal earlier ruled out by video assistant referee (VAR) after a hand ball in the build-up.
