The defending champions opened with a coronation. Lionel Messi, at his record sixth World Cup and on his 200th cap for Argentina, scored his first-ever World Cup hat-trick — strikes in the 17th, 60th and 76th minutes — to sink Algeria 3–0 in Kansas City.

The treble drew him level with Miroslav Klose on 16 career World Cup goals, the joint-most in the tournament's history. Eleven years after his last act, the greatest of them all is still rewriting the record book.

Weird & wonderful

In the same round, Croatia's Ivan Perišić assisted in a fourth different World Cup — a feat only Messi can also claim since records began in 1966. The two milestones, separated by a day.

This was a result built on ruthless efficiency rather than territorial dominance: Algeria actually edged possession (52%-48%), but Argentina turned a modest 1.26 xG into three goals, all from Lionel Messi (17', 60', 76'). The decisive gap was in the box — Argentina put 6 of their 10 shots on target while Algeria registered 7 attempts but zero on target (0.32 xG), failing to test Emiliano Martínez once, a first-ever instance of Algeria not managing a single shot on target in a World Cup match. Messi alone accounted for roughly 1.0 of Argentina's xG and 6 of their shots, so the scoreline (3-0) actually overshot the underlying numbers, flattered by his finishing and a parry from Luca Zidane that teed up the second goal. With corners level at 2-2 and no red cards, Algeria's tidy passing (over 90% accuracy) never translated into genuine penetration, underlining how one elite finisher decided an otherwise even-looking contest.