*Riyad Mahrez, Others Left Helpless, Made To Look Like Inferior Professionals
*Golden Boot Race Underway: Messi 3, Mbappe, Haaland 2 Each
*Argentine Is First Player To Compete At Six World Cups
By Felix Durumbah, Abuja, with additional report from Reuters
Without mincing words, seriously, is there really a footballer on the planet currently better than Messi?
He’s nearly 39 and still the best player in the world! Easily the greatest.
Too old? Too lazy? Too complacent having won the mundial in 2022? Not a chance.
What a show he put on in early hours (Nigeria Time) of Wednesday, 17 June in Argentina’s World Cup opener versus Algeria!
It needs reconstructing that with an inferior possession (48-52) stat against Riyad Mahrez and co., Messi and his colleagues subjected Algeria to zero shot on target, after 96 minutes of football in a match monitored by People&Politics overnight.
“Does Messi not understand the concept of aging?” asks the Guardian UK football reporter Daniel Gurfinkel. “To score a hat-trick at a World Cup is already mightily impressive but to do so when you’re practically 39 years old is insane.”
“Not only that, but it was a varied hat-trick. The opener was a fierce wallop (that the keeper should have done better with). The second was a classic fox-in-the-box tap-in. The third was vintage Barca, a one-two near the box preceding a sidefoot into the corner,” he added.
Today is the day the World Cup Golden Boot race came alive with his hat-trick and braces to Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland in other matches.
Messi earned a spot in the World Cup history books with the hat-trick that saw Argentina begin the defence of their title with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Algeria.
Messi became the tournament’s joint all-time leading scorer as he advanced to a total of 16 goals, equalling the record held by Miroslav Klose of Germany.
The opening game in Group J saw another masterclass from the Argentina captain, who turns 39 later this month and was marking his 200th cap for his country, as he became the first player to compete at six World Cups.
He got his goalscoring spree underway with a 17th-minute strike from the edge of the penalty area, followed by a tap-in on the hour mark, and the hat-trick was completed in the 76th minute with a precise shot into the corner of the net.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Messi, after scoring one of the goals…today.
