Lionel Messi delivered his first World Cup hat trick while matching Miroslav Kloses career tournament scoring record Tuesday night, giving thousands of Argentina fans packed inside of Arrowhead Stadium for a match against Algeria a moment they will never forget.
Messi scored his first goal in the opening minutes off a nifty feed from Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul, the second off an opportunistic rebound early in the second half, and the third on a crisp strike moments before subbing out to a standing ovation, as La Albiceleste began the defense of their World Cup crown with a dominant 3-0 victory over Les Fennecs.
“At a loss for words about Leo. What can I say?” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “Hes incredible.”
All Patrick Mahomes, the undisputed king of Kansas City (until tonight, anyway), could say was through emojis:
Messi’s incredible trio of goals came 20 years to the day that Messi made his World Cup debut in a match against Serbia and Montenegro â he scored in that one, too â and made the pride of Rosario only the second player to score in five editions of the tournament.
He has 16 goals in his six World Cup appearances, and it seems inevitable that Kloses record will fall in the coming weeks. The hat trick was the 61st of Messis career and his 11th while playing in the blue-and-white kit of the national team.
It also was the fifth straight World Cup game in which Messi has scored.
“It makes me very happy to have lived through everything that came my way. What Im living though now is the cherry on top,” Messi said. “Im very happy and grateful for this wonderful group. I enjoy it so much.”
Messis hat trick upstaged two of soccers other stars â Kylian Mbappé of France and Erling Haaland of Norway â who had big games of their own on Tuesday. Mbappé scored twice in Frances 3-1 win over Senegal to move into a tie for fourth on the World Cup goals list with 14, while Haaland scored twice for Norway in its 4-1 victory over Iraq.
“Messi is a madman,” Haaland said amid his hat trick in a post on Snapchat.
Inter Miami had slowed him in the lead-up to the World Cup. But the eight-time winner of the Ballon dOr, which honors global soccers best player, had no problems in a tuneup last week with Iceland, scoring on a penalty kick while playing 20 minutes in a sharp performance.
“When Im in good shape,” Messi said, “I give it my all.”
Messis appearance against Algeria was the 200th of his international career, which began in 2005 at age of 18. The only players with more are Portugals Cristiano Ronaldo, who will play his 229th on Wednesday, and Bader al-Mutawa, who played in 202 for Kuwait.
Messi and Ronaldo are the only players to have scored in five World Cups.
Argentina is among four national teams making their base camps in the Kansas City metro. And much as it has the rest of the world, Messi-mania has swept through the area ever since La Albicelestes arrival in the Heartland about two weeks ago.
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