KANSAS CITY: Defending champions Argentina opened their World Cup campaign in spectacular fashion as Lionel Messi celebrated his record-breaking sixth tournament appearance with his first-ever World Cup hat-trick. Messi’s goal-scoring masterclass guided Argentina to a clinical 3-0 victory over Algeria, ensuring a perfect start to their global crown defense. With this hat-trick, the iconic Argentine forward has also risen to become the joint-highest goal scorer in the history of the FIFA World Cup.
The 38-year-old forward thought he had broken the deadlock early in the eighth minute in Kansas City on Tuesday when he slotted the ball home from close range, but the goal was quickly disallowed by an offside flag. However, the dream start to his historic appearance—a record that will be matched by Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo against the DR Congo on Wednesday—was not to be denied for long.
Shortly after, a trademark, mazy run from Messi culminated in a powerful drive from the edge of the box using his legendary left foot. The sheer power of the strike proved too hot to handle for Algerian goalkeeper Luca Zidane, son of French football legend and World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane. Messi then doubled his tally on the hour mark with a clinical tap-in after capitalizing on a rebound from the goalkeeper following a fierce low drive by Alexis Mac Allister.
The most magical moment of the night for the highly decorated skipper arrived in the 76th minute when he drilled a pinpoint low strike past the keeper from just outside the penalty box. The sensational strike took Messi level with former Germany legendary striker Miroslav Klose as the tournament’s joint-all-time top scorer with 16 World Cup goals. Three minutes after securing his hat-trick, Messi was substituted to a thunderous standing ovation from the entire stadium. While the maestro looked slightly disappointed to leave the pitch, the substitution was a strategic move to rest him for Argentina’s ultimate quest to become only the third team in history to successfully retain a World Cup title.
Algeria, the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations winners, created very few goal-scoring opportunities and were themselves denied an early breakthrough when Fares Chaibi’s ninth-minute strike was ruled out for offside. Messi’s dominant display ensured there was no opening-match upset for the Albiceleste in this edition, recalling how Argentina had shockingly lost their Qatar 2022 opener to Saudi Arabia before ultimately conquering France in the final. The Argentine number 10, who spent the prime of his club career in Spain with Barcelona before moving to French giants Paris Saint-Germain, currently plays in the United States for MLS club Inter Miami.
It was during a domestic end-of-season game for Miami that he sustained a minor hamstring injury that slightly hampered his preparation in the lead-up to the World Cup. However, the eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or proved he had fully recovered after a 20-minute tune-up match last week against Iceland, where he scored from a penalty kick. Messi’s appearance against Algeria also marked the historic 200th cap of his international career, which originally began in 2005 at the age of 18. The only active international players with more appearances are Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who will make his 229th appearance on Wednesday, and Kuwait’s Bader Al-Mutawa with 202 caps.
The veteran Argentine’s extraordinary hat-trick completely upstaged two of global football’s other marquee stars—Kylian Mbappe of France and Erling Haaland of Norway—who both enjoyed prolific outings on Tuesday. Mbappe scored a brace in France’s 3-1 victory over Senegal earlier in the day, tying for fourth on the all-time World Cup scoring list with 14 goals, while Haaland netted twice for Norway in their dominant 4-1 win against Iraq. Elsewhere in the group, Jordan and Austria are scheduled to open their tournament accounts later on Tuesday evening in San Francisco, ahead of Argentina’s next group-stage clash against Austria on Monday.
ലഘു വിവരണം
തന്റെ റെക്കോർഡ് ആറാമത് ലോകകപ്പ് മത്സരത്തിനിറങ്ങിയ ലയണൽ മെസ്സിയുടെ തകർപ്പൻ ഹാട്രിക്കിന്റെ കരുത്തിൽ ലോകകപ്പ് ഓപ്പണിങ് മാച്ചിൽ അർജന്റീന അൾജീരിയയെ 3-0 ന് പരാജയപ്പെടുത്തി. ലോകകപ്പിൽ മെസ്സി നേടുന്ന ആദ്യ ഹാട്രിക്കാണിത്. അൾജീരിയൻ ഗോളി ലൂക്കാ സിദാനെ കാഴ്ചക്കാരനാക്കി നേടിയ മൂന്ന് ഗോളുകളോടെ ലോകകപ്പിൽ ആകെ 16 ഗോളുകൾ തികച്ച മെസ്സി, ജർമ്മനിയുടെ മിറോസ്ലാവ് ക്ലോസെയുടെ റെക്കോർഡിനൊപ്പമെത്തി. മെസ്സിയുടെ ഈ മിന്നും പ്രകടനം ഇതേദിവസം ഇരട്ട ഗോളുകൾ നേടിയ എംബാപ്പെയുടെയും ഹാലണ്ടിന്റെയും പ്രകടനങ്ങളെ നിഴലിലാക്കി.
(With inputs from AJ)
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