{"id":961098,"date":"2026-06-17T11:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T03:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/?p=961098"},"modified":"2026-06-18T05:49:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T21:49:41","slug":"messi-hat-trick-argentina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/lifestyle-en-2\/sports-en-2\/messi-hat-trick-argentina\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi hat trick sends Argentina to 3-0 Group J win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Messi hat trick powered Argentina to a 3-0<\/strong> victory over Algeria in the opening match of Group J at the 2026 World Cup, with captain Lionel Messi scoring all three goals and rewriting several World Cup records, according to FIFA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lionel<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Argentina controlled much of the first half and opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Rodrigo De Paul threaded a diagonal pass down the right flank, finding Messi near the edge of the penalty area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messi drifted past a defender and struck a curling shot that flew into the top corner, giving Argentina a 1-0 lead, according to the FIFA match report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Algeria, guarded in goal by Luca Zidane, steadied after the opener and defended with disciplined shape, snuffing several promising attacks from Lautaro Mart\u00ednez and Thiago Almada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lionel<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Coach Lionel Scaloni made attacking changes in the second half, bringing on Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez and Nicol\u00e1s Gonz\u00e1lez as Argentina hunted a second goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match then became Messi’s stage. At the 60th minute, Messi capitalized on a loose save by Luca Zidane and calmly poked the ball into the net to make it 2-0, FIFA’s report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messi hat trick secures a decisive finish<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As Argentina pressed, Messi found space at the top of the box and, in the 76th minute, produced a clinical finish to complete his hat trick and seal the 3-0 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lionel<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Scaloni said after the game that the team executed the game plan and that Messi was in exceptional form, turning a tight contest into a comfortable win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records and milestones after Messi hat trick<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

FIFA statistics show Messi became the first player in history to appear at six World Cup final tournaments, a milestone he reached by entering the field for Argentina in this match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three goals also moved Messi’s career World Cup total to 16<\/strong>, a figure FIFA lists as tying the tournament record held by Miroslav Klose and surpassing the totals of Pel\u00e9 and Gerd M\u00fcller, the governing body said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 38 years, 357 days<\/strong>, Messi also became the oldest player to complete a hat trick in a World Cup match, according to FIFA, underscoring his longevity at the international level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Argentina will next face its Group J opponents as the group stage continues; FIFA’s schedule lists Argentina as among the favorites after the opening-round result.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Messi hat trick powered Argentina to a 3-0 opening win over Algeria, making him the first player to appear at six World Cups and moving his total to 16 goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":960650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5066],"tags":[17723,39677,39676,4188,39779,9192,39778,39780,10962,39777],"class_list":["post-961098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports-en-2","tag-17723","tag-algeria","tag-argentina","tag-fifa","tag-julian-alvarez","tag-lautaro","tag-lionel-scaloni","tag-luca-zidane","tag-messi","tag-world-cup-records"],"raw_content":"\n

Messi hat trick powered Argentina to a 3-0<\/strong> victory over Algeria in the opening match of Group J at the 2026 World Cup, with captain Lionel Messi scoring all three goals and rewriting several World Cup records, according to FIFA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lionel<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Argentina controlled much of the first half and opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Rodrigo De Paul threaded a diagonal pass down the right flank, finding Messi near the edge of the penalty area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messi drifted past a defender and struck a curling shot that flew into the top corner, giving Argentina a 1-0 lead, according to the FIFA match report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Algeria, guarded in goal by Luca Zidane, steadied after the opener and defended with disciplined shape, snuffing several promising attacks from Lautaro Mart\u00ednez and Thiago Almada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lionel<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Coach Lionel Scaloni made attacking changes in the second half, bringing on Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez and Nicol\u00e1s Gonz\u00e1lez as Argentina hunted a second goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match then became Messi's stage. At the 60th minute, Messi capitalized on a loose save by Luca Zidane and calmly poked the ball into the net to make it 2-0, FIFA's report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messi hat trick secures a decisive finish<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As Argentina pressed, Messi found space at the top of the box and, in the 76th minute, produced a clinical finish to complete his hat trick and seal the 3-0 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lionel<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Scaloni said after the game that the team executed the game plan and that Messi was in exceptional form, turning a tight contest into a comfortable win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records and milestones after Messi hat trick<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

FIFA statistics show Messi became the first player in history to appear at six World Cup final tournaments, a milestone he reached by entering the field for Argentina in this match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three goals also moved Messi's career World Cup total to 16<\/strong>, a figure FIFA lists as tying the tournament record held by Miroslav Klose and surpassing the totals of Pel\u00e9 and Gerd M\u00fcller, the governing body said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 38 years, 357 days<\/strong>, Messi also became the oldest player to complete a hat trick in a World Cup match, according to FIFA, underscoring his longevity at the international level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Argentina will next face its Group J opponents as the group stage continues; FIFA's schedule lists Argentina as among the favorites after the opening-round result.<\/p>\n\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=961098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":961099,"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961098\/revisions\/961099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/960650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ztylezman.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}