Lionel Messi stole the headlines with a hat-trick on his 200th appearance for Argentina, but it was an emphatic opening victory of the 2026 FIFA World Cup against Algeria which was built on the dominance of Enzo Fernandez and his fellow midfielders.
As expected, Fernandez lined up in the Argentina midfield from the start. Alongside Alexis Mac Allister and Rodrigo De Paul, it was the same midfield three that started the country’s victory over France in the World Cup final four years ago.
Argentina went into the tournament as one of the favourites again as they attempted to become only the second team to successfully defend the trophy, and the first to do so since 1970.
The early focus from the fans in the stands was on Argentina captain Messi, who was cheered at every touch by the crowd. He briefly delighted those fans by finding the net inside five minutes, only for the flag to go up and the goal to be ruled out for offside.
Almost immediately, the same thing happened at the other end, Fares Chaibi being left unmarked to slot in at the near post. This time it took longer, but VAR intervened to deny Algeria a shock opening goal.
Despite the officials’ interventions, it wouldn’t remain goalless for long, though. There was just over 15 minutes on the clock when the crowd got the Messi moment they craved. Algeria backed off him and gave him time, the Argentina captain punished them as he so often does, finding the top corner from outside the box.
That set the tone. Algeria continued to fight and actually went into half-time having enjoyed a narrow majority of possession, but Argentina looked increasingly in control of the game. Fernandez’s influence increased as the match progressed, as his team gradually seized control of the midfield areas.
That dominance grew strongly in the second half and they went close to doubling their lead on a couple of occasions, with goalkeeper Luca Zidane forced into some good saves, before the skipper found the net again. This time Zidane got his hands to a speculative Mac Allister drive, but spilled it right to the feet of Messi to give him an easy second goal.
Zidane then did much better to deny Messi a hat-trick, but it now seemed like a case of how many goals Argentina would win by, rather than if they would take the victory. Indeed, Messi did complete his triple with just under 15 minutes remaining, exchanging passes with Nicolas Gonzalez before finding the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
That made it 3-0 at the final whistle and an emphatic start to Argentina’s World Cup defence, which continues against Austria at 6pm UK time on Monday 22 June.