Messi scores hat trick as Argentina opens World Cup defense with 3-0 win

Messi’s hat trick in Kansas City was more than a dazzling opener for Argentina. It was the clearest evidence that the defending champion’s ceiling still rises and falls with Lionel Messi, and that his influence remains the tactical center of this World Cup run.

Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 at Kansas City Stadium on June 17, 2026, with Messi scoring in the 17th, 60th and 76th minutes. The first goal came after a solo run from about 30 meters, the second arrived when Messi pounced on a rebound, and the third finished the night with the kind of curved strike that has defined his career for nearly two decades. The result gave Argentina three points, a plus-3 goal difference and first place in Group J, while Algeria left with no points and a minus-3 difference.

The numbers around the performance make the night heavier still. Messi reached 16 World Cup goals, matching Miroslav Klose for the tournament’s all-time scoring record. The hat trick came in Messi’s 200th appearance for Argentina’s senior national team and landed exactly 20 years after his World Cup debut at Germany 2006, a symmetry that gave the performance historical weight even before the final whistle. Argentina now turns to Austria on June 22, with one more goal standing between Messi and the outright World Cup scoring record.

The Michelob Ultra Superior Player of the Match award went to Messi, selected through FIFA Play Zone voting that opens during the match and will be handed out 104 times over the course of the 2026 tournament. The award fit the occasion, but the deeper story was how Messi controlled the game’s decisive stretches. Argentina’s title defense began with a reminder that the team’s ambitions are not built on brand-name status alone. They are built on whether Messi can still bend a match, stretch a defense and convert brief openings into a result that keeps a second straight world title within reach, something no team has managed since 1962.