Those in attendance at Argentina’s opening match against Algeria could be forgiven, for a moment, for thinking they were at one of the great Argentinian cathedrals of football – La Bombonera, or maybe the national stadium, El Monumental. Kansas City Stadium, awash in the colors of the Albiceleste, roared with the sound of nearly 70,000 supporters serenading their team, and their hero, in rapturous song. They had plenty to sing about.
Argentina rose to the occasion, and so did Lionel Messi, who on his 200th cap took another step towards solidifying his place as the greatest footballer in history, scoring three splendid goals to draw level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the World Cup’s all-time mark on 16 goals. The performance came just hours after France’s Kylian Mbappé had briefly leapfrogged Messi, with 14.
The Inter Miami playmaker also became the first male player to appear at six World Cups, a record that was swiftly equalled by Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo at Houston Stadium.
Messi had been recovering from a muscle injury in recent weeks but any doubt surrounding the captain’s status was quickly wiped away when he was named in Lionel Scaloni’s starting XI, and those doubts were ancient history once the match began.
Messi had nearly nabbed Argentina’s opener just five minutes in when a through-ball found him at the near side of the box. His shot was perfectly placed, but assistant referee Tomasz Listkiewicz correctly flagged him offside by the smallest margin. Not two minutes later, the Algeria winger Farès Chaïbi had an equally clinical finish chalked off after finding himself offside by a similarly narrow margin.
Messi wasted little time putting Argentina ahead, finding the back of the net in the 17th minute. Rodrigo De Paul found Messi 40 yards out, after which the former Barcelona star turned and took three touches towards goal. With no defenders in sight, his driven shot from the edge of the area was too powerful for Luca Zidane, glancing off the goalkeeper’s fingertips and into the goal.
The one negative on an otherwise brilliant performance came in the first half, with Messi fortunate to escape punishment after a rash challenge in which he raked his studs across the back of Aïssa Mandi’s calf. The Argentinian likely deserved a yellow, and potentially even a red. He received neither, and the play was not reviewed on the field.
Messi’s second goal was even more easily taken than his first. Alexis Mac Allister’s speculative effort from 30 yards was pushed away by Zidane directly into the path of Messi, who coolly slotted it home from close range in the 60th minute.
Again, Algeria’s backline was nowhere to be found. Argentina, on the other hand, were excellent defensively throughout the entire match. The 38-year-old completed his hat-trick in the 76th minute with a vintage finish, threading his strike through a trio of defenders and just out of reach of Zidane. He left the match minutes later.
Both fanbases have been well-represented for days in Kansas City and nearby Lawrence, Kansas, where Algeria will be based for the entirety of their tournament.
Thousands of Argentinian supporters packed a local park on Monday night for a banderazo, singing, chanting and dancing into the wee hours. On Tuesday evening, the party moved to the stadium, which was full of noise hours before kickoff.
Algeria’s supporters have been the subject of a remarkable story in Lawrence, where residents have welcomed them with open arms. Though understandably outnumbered by opposing fans, loud, vibrant pockets of green emerged from Argentina’s blue-and-white at times, urging the underdogs on.
The 28th-ranked Algerians will have hoped for a happier return to the World Cup after a 12-year absence, having been revitalized under the head coach Vladimir Petković.
Algeria earned a reputation during qualifying for their high-energy approach, glimpses of which were present, particularly in the closing moments of the first half. Despite some promising exchanges, they were undone by poor finishing and never looked competitive.
Algeria’s encounter with Jordan now has the makings of a must-win; they feel much more evenly matched with Austria.
Scaloni had tempered expectations in the leadup, going as far as saying that a win against the Desert Foxes was far from necessary. Scaloni should know; he was at the helm in 2022 when Argentina narrowly lost in their group stage opener to Saudi Arabia, among the most shocking results in World Cup history.
Expectations aside, Scaloni will surely be pleased with three points, which nudged Argentina towards the last 32. They will meet Austria in Arlington, Texas, on Monday.
Messi, as is his custom, will be expected to make even more history there.
