Those in attendance at Argentina’s opening match against Algeria could be forgiven, for a moment, for thinking they were at one of the great Argentinian cathedrals of football – La Bombonera, or maybe the national stadium, El Monumental. Kansas City Stadium, awash in the colors of the Albiceleste, roared with the sound of nearly 70,000 supporters serenading their team, and their hero, in rapturous song. They had plenty to sing about.
Argentina rose to the occasion, and so did Lionel Messi, who on his 200th cap took another step towards solidifying his place as the greatest footballer in history, scoring three splendid goals to draw level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the World Cup’s all-time mark on 16 goals. The performance came just hours after France’s Kylian Mbappé had briefly leapfrogged Messi, with 14.
