Messi ties Klose with record 16th World Cup goal for Argentina

Lionel Messi pushed his World Cup résumé into new territory Tuesday night, scoring a hat trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria in Kansas City, Kansas, and tying Miroslav Klose for the men’s tournament scoring record with 16 goals. It was Messi’s first World Cup hat trick, a performance that widened the gap between the Argentine captain and nearly every other name in the competition’s history.

The benchmark he matched belongs to Klose, who set the record at the 2014 World Cup when Germany beat host Brazil 7-1 in the semifinal in Belo Horizonte and the striker scored his 16th tournament goal. That record has long stood as one of the clearest markers of World Cup greatness, placing Klose above a line of scorers that includes Ronaldo, Pelé, Gerd Müller and Just Fontaine. Messi’s three goals dragged that standard back into the spotlight and made the chase for tournament supremacy feel less like a footnote and more like a defining chapter.

The result also mattered in the immediate tournament context. Argentina opened its title defense with the win over Algeria, and Reuters reported that Argentina started Lautaro Martínez while Algeria left Riyad Mahrez on the bench. Messi’s goals gave Argentina control early and left little doubt that the reigning champion had begun with the kind of statement that travels well beyond one group-stage result.

What sets the achievement apart is not just the number, but the span of Messi’s World Cup career. FIFA says Messi had already set the tournament appearance record with 26 matches after Qatar 2022, a measure of durability as much as excellence. FIFA also points to Messi’s 46 successful take-ons at Brazil 2014, one of the highest single-tournament totals in World Cup history, underscoring how often he has bent games to his will across different editions and against different generations of opponents.

For Argentina, the hat trick was a celebration. For the sport, it was a record-line moment: Messi moved level with Klose in one of the World Cup’s most prestigious categories, tightening a legacy debate that now reaches far beyond Argentina fans.