By scoring a historic hat-trick, Lionel Messi led his national team, defending champion Argentina, to overcome Algeria 3-0, in the Group 10 competition of the 2026 World Cup in soccer at Kansas City Stadium, becoming the highest-scoring player in the history of the tournament in partnership with German Miroslav Klose. He also became the first player to play matches in the finals six times. Messi's hat-trick, his first in a World Cup, came in the 17th, 60th and 76th minutes, raising his tally to 16 goals in 27 matches as the top all-time World Cup scorers in partnership with Klose, in the sixth edition in which he is participating after 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022. Argentina, the three-time world champion, raised its score to three points at the top of Group Ten The match started with two goals early, which were ruled out by Polish referee Simon Marciniak for offside. The first was scored by Argentine Messi (5), and the other was scored by Algerian Fares Shaybi (8).