Messi scores hat-trick as Argentina beats Algeria in World Cup opener

Lionel Messi’s first World Cup hat-trick did more than settle Argentina’s opener. In Kansas City, thousands watched him score in the 17th, 60th and 76th minutes as Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 and he moved level with Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals. The result also launched Argentina’s title defense from 2022, but the atmosphere in the stands made the night feel bigger than a single group match.

The same was true a day earlier in New York/New Jersey Stadium, where France beat Senegal 3-1 and the crowd turned Kylian Mbappé’s performance into a shared event. Mbappé scored twice to reach 58 goals for France, Brice Barcola added another, and Ibrahim Mbaye’s stoppage-time goal for Senegal only sharpened the contrast between celebration and consolation. France’s victory put its campaign in motion and kept its Group I ambitions on track.

What tied both matches together was the way the stadiums themselves became part of the story. The World Cup in the United States gave supporters in New York/New Jersey and Kansas City a stage that felt as much like a festival as a football tournament, with star players driving the volume and the stakes inside the venue. Messi and Mbappé are different figures, but each match showed how elite individual talent can shape the mood of an entire crowd, not just the scoreboard.

Messi’s night carried extra historical weight. FIFA described the Argentina-Algeria match as his first World Cup hat-trick, and it came while he already held the record for most World Cup appearances, with 26. Algeria also brought its own place in tournament history, having become the first African team to beat a European side at a World Cup when it defeated West Germany 2-1 in 1982. That background gave the fixture a deeper edge, even as Messi’s three goals quickly took control of the narrative.

Across both matches, the tournament’s opening days showed that crowd energy is no longer just backdrop. In these U.S. stadiums, the noise, the star power and the scoreline fused into a single spectacle, and Argentina’s and France’s victories made clear that the World Cup story is being written as much in the stands as on the field.