Messi scores a hat trick—and Zidane’s son wears a head guard

Lionel Messi scored his first hat trick in a World Cup match—and he did it in his 200th international appearance, during his sixth World Cup finals. Argentina got off to a much better start than when they won the title four years ago in Qatar. Back then, Messi and his teammates had suffered a surprising 1-2 loss to underdog Saudi Arabia in their opener.

This time, they weren’t caught off guard by the higher-ranked Algeria team coached by Switzerland’s Vladimir Petkovic—partly because he didn’t make the right call with his choice of goalkeeper. On the 1-0 goal in the 17th minute, Luca Zidane was caught off guard by what was essentially a harmless long-range shot from 18 meters; on the 2-0 goal after an hour, he let a shot bounce right into Messi’s feet. After scoring the 3-0 goal—which tied him with World Cup all-time leading scorer Miroslav Klose—the superstar was substituted to a standing ovation. He is now also the first player to have appeared in six World Cup tournaments.

Zidane is the son of French legend Zinédine Zidane; he plays for second-division Granada in Spain and wears a face mask following a broken jaw and chin sustained in April. Nevertheless, Petkovic chose him over Melvin Mastil of Challenge League club Stade Nyonnais.

Lionel Messi beat Luca Zidane three times.

Keystone

The Argentines cruised to victory against an Algerian team that posed no threat on offense. Petkovic could now face significant criticism. He left the top scorer of the qualifiers, former Lugano player Mohamed Amoura, and the aging captain Riyad Mahrez to sit on the bench for a long time. Result: His team didn’t even manage a single shot on goal. A win is now a must in the second match against Jordan, and Messi will try to take sole possession of the all-time scoring record against Austria.

Match Report:

Argentina – Algeria 3–0 (1–0)

Kansas City. – 69,045 spectators. – Referee: Marciniak. – Goals: 17. Messi (De Paul) 1–0. 60. Messi 2–0. 76. Messi (González) 3–0.

Argentina: Emiliano Martínez; Montiel (46. Molina), Romero (80. Otamendi), Lisandro Martínez, Medina; De Paul, Mac Allister, Fernández, Almada (55. González); Messi (80. Paz), Lautaro Martínez (55. Alvarez).

Algeria: Zidane; Belghali, Mandi, Bensebaini, Aït-Nouri; Boudaoui (64. Aouar), Bentaleb (81. Boulbina), Maza (82. Zerrouki); Hadj Moussa (64' Mahrez), Gouiri (64' Amoura), Chaïbi.