{"id":144201,"date":"2026-06-17T10:02:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/messi-hat-trick-inspires-argentinas-world-cup-defense\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T10:02:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:02:54","slug":"messi-hat-trick-inspires-argentinas-world-cup-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/messi-hat-trick-inspires-argentinas-world-cup-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi hat-trick inspires Argentina\u2019s World Cup defense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Lionel Messi turned back the clock once again, delivering a hat-trick that helped Argentina open the defense of their World Cup crown with a 3-0 win over Algeria in their Group J opener. The performance came in Kansas City, where Messi marked his record sixth World Cup appearance.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The drama started early when Messi thought he had broken the deadlock in the opening minutes, only to see the goal chalked off for offside. He wouldn\u2019t be denied for long. A trademark mazy run was capped by a powerful strike with his famed left foot, beating Algeria goalkeeper Luca Zidane, son of World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane. The second arrived on a rebound early in the second half, before he completed the treble soon after.<\/p>\n<p>The night carried historic weight. It was Messi\u2019s 200th international cap, making him the first player to complete at six World Cups, and he became the oldest player to ever score a hat-trick at the tournament. The third goal also drew him level with former Germany striker Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals, the most in the competition\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>Adding to the emotion, Messi was given a standing ovation when substituted just minutes after completing his hat-trick. He later revealed his tears after the opener were tied to personal difficulties away from the pitch rather than the match itself.<\/p>\n<p>It capped a day when football\u2019s biggest stars all delivered, though none matched Messi\u2019s brilliance. Kylian Mbappe scored twice in France\u2019s 3-1 win over Senegal, while Erling Haaland struck twice in Norway\u2019s 4-1 over Iraq. But on this night, the spotlight belonged entirely to Messi, who showed that even at 38, with the World Cup\u2019s brightest stage set, he still produce moments of pure magic when his team needs him most.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kbc.co.ke\/messi-hat-trick-inspires-argentinas-world-cup-defense\/\">Messi hat-trick inspires Argentina\u2019s World Cup defense<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kbc.co.ke\/\">KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lionel Messi turned back the clock once again, delivering a hat-trick that helped Argentina open the defense of their World Cup crown with a 3-0 win over Algeria in their Group J opener. The performance came in Kansas City, where Messi marked his record sixth World Cup appearance. The drama started early when Messi thought [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}