Messi Scores Historic Hat-Trick in World Cup Opener
Lionel Messi walked into Kansas City as a 38-year-old defending champion. He walked out with another World Cup record and one more piece of ammunition in a debate that refuses to die.
On a warm Tuesday night in the United States, the Argentina captain opened his 2026 World Cup with a performance that felt almost scripted. Argentina beat Algeria, 3–0, and Messi scored every single goal. A sell-out crowd at Kansas City Stadium got what it came for: a show, and a slice of history.
Messi rewrites another line in the record book
By the time the final whistle went, Messi had done more than drag Argentina to the top of Group J. He had taken a record from the one man who has shared his stage for nearly two decades.
At 38 years and 357 days, Messi is now the oldest player ever to score a World Cup hat-trick, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo’s mark from 2018. Ronaldo set that record at 33 years and 130 days when he hit three past Spain in Russia. It stood for eight years. Messi pushed it aside in 90 ruthless minutes.
The goals were not just numbers for statisticians to file away. They were a statement that, even at the tail end of his career, he still bends the biggest tournament on earth to his will.
Argentina start like champions
Argentina arrived in the United States as the team everyone wants to beat. World champions. Global icons. A side with the heaviest of shirts and the biggest of targets on their backs.
Group J looked manageable on paper — Austria, Jordan, Algeria — but opening games have tripped up giants before. There was no stumble here. Messi’s hat-trick powered Argentina to three points from three goals, and first place after one match played.
The defending champions now move on to Dallas, where the schedule tightens and the stakes rise. They face Austria on Monday, then Jordan five days later, both at Dallas Stadium. Six points from those two fixtures would all but lock in a place in the knockout rounds and send another warning across the tournament.
Ronaldo’s turn in Miami
While Messi was rewriting history in the Midwest, Cristiano Ronaldo waited for his own World Cup to begin.
Portugal open their campaign on Wednesday against the Democratic Republic of Congo at Miami Stadium. Then comes Uzbekistan on Tuesday, followed by a potentially decisive clash with Colombia on June 27, all in the same venue.
The equation is simple for both legends. Finish at least second in the group, or go home early. Survive the first phase, and join 30 other teams in a knockout stage that could still, just maybe, script one last collision between the two dominant figures of their era.
Ronaldo no longer owns the “oldest hat-trick” record. What he does own is another chance to shape his final World Cup, to answer Messi’s opening act with one of his own.
The weight of the crown
Argentina’s status could not be clearer. They are the reigning champions, the team that broke a 36-year wait in Qatar by beating Kylian Mbappé and France on penalties in that wild 2022 final.
That night in Lusail felt like the closing chapter of a story. This World Cup suggests it was only the end of one book. In Kansas City, nearly four years on, Messi showed he is not done adding pages.
The numbers will keep piling up. Records will keep falling. The question now is whether this latest milestone is just the start of another Argentina run, or the last great flourish of a career that has already redrawn the limits of what a World Cup star can be.
