Argentina
AlgeriaThe match was settled by the weight of one exceptional player operating at the exact level the occasion demanded. Algeria were organised and competitive in the first half, pressing with intent and creating enough to suggest they were not simply there to make up numbers — but Messi scored once before the half-hour and twice more as the clock ran down, each goal more individually authored than the last. Argentina controlled possession, managed the game with tournament intelligence, and let their captain write the history he came to write.
Argentina
Argentina were precisely what defending champions are supposed to be when the tournament opens: serene, dominant, and carrying the one player in the world for whom a hat-trick on his 200th international appearance, twenty years to the day since his World Cup debut, feels not like theatre but like destiny. Messi opened the account with a long-range screamer in the 17th minute, added a composed tap-in on the hour, and completed the treble with a curled effort into the bottom corner in the 76th — drawing level with Miroslav Klose's all-time record of 16 World Cup goals. The defence behind him barely needed to break a sweat.
Algeria
Algeria arrived with intent and had a goal of their own cancelled by VAR in the early exchanges, a moment that revealed both their ambition and the brutal margin between tournament contenders and the very best. Once Messi found his rhythm in the second half, the Fennec Foxes were running on collective effort alone, and effort, against this Argentina, tends to run out before the final whistle.