Thierry Henry said Messi was "on the moon" after his hat-trick against Algeria. At 38 years old, at what is almost certainly his last World Cup, that sentence should not be possible. And yet here we are.
Messi opened this tournament with his first-ever World Cup hat-trick — a 3-0 dismantling of Algeria — and in the process drew level with Miroslav Klose as the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history with 16 goals. The numbers keep climbing. The body refuses to decline.
Why MLS deserves some credit here
The easy take is that MLS is a retirement league — that Messi coasting through American soccer is a betrayal of his talent. The more honest take, watching him move through Algeria's defence, is that the move may have extended his elite career rather than ended it.
At Barcelona's peak, Messi was playing 50-plus matches a season in the most tactically intense league in the world. At Inter Miami, the schedule is lighter and the defensive pressure considerably lower week to week. The same pattern appeared in 2022. At PSG, Messi stepped back from Champions League-level intensity in Ligue 1, then produced the finest World Cup of his career — seven goals, two in the final, a penalty shootout win over France, and the one trophy that had always escaped him.
Now, two years into MLS, the cycle is repeating. Fresher legs, a clearer head, and a World Cup stage that brings out a version of Messi his club football rarely sees anymore.
Coach Lionel Scaloni put it simply: "Leo will be the best for as long as he wants; he has been doing it every single match for the last 20 years."
What this means for Argentina's title chances
Argentina came in as defending champions. With Messi performing at this level, their odds of back-to-back titles look increasingly well-founded. Alexi Lalas captured it bluntly on Fox Sports: "Messi is the system, he is the tactic, he's the formation, he's the identity and he is the heart." That's not romanticism — that's a tactical reality for Scaloni's side.
Teammate Rodrigo De Paul, also an Inter Miami player, revealed the two of them "killed ourselves" in preparation to arrive physically right. Messi added that watching Rafael Nadal's Netflix docuseries had sharpened his own drive to stay at the top. Whether that mental edge translates across a full tournament is the real question — but the opening answer was a hat-trick.
Scaloni, speaking with the awareness of someone who knows this window is closing, said it plainly: "We will miss him." Right now, though, they don't have to.
