EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — It’s a day that you would think would be for the World Cup record books, with three of the tournament’s biggest stars each scoring a brace on the same day.
Lionel Messi got his in the 2-0 win over Austria in Dallas, Kylian Mbappé netted two in a 3-0 shutout against Iraq in Philadelphia, and Erling Haaland put a pair past Senegal in a 3-2 victory in New Jersey.
The entry in the record books will have to wait, because they were outdone 96 years ago, when Guillermo Stábile (Argentina), Pedro Cea (Uruguay), and Bert Patenaude (USA) all scored hat-tricks on July 17, 1930, during the inaugural World Cup in Uruguay.
Stábile scored his in a 6-3 win over Mexico, Cea netted his in a 6-1 blowout over Yugoslavia, and Patenaude will forever live in the history books for scoring the first-ever World Cup hat trick when the United States defeated Paraguay 3-0.
Messi’s 17th and 18th World Cup goals broke Germany’s Miroslav Klose’s record of 16, giving him the all-time goal-scoring record, albeit with a bit of controversy thrown in. The Argentina captain netted his first on a buildup that started when Alexis Mac Allister committed a foul on an Austrian player off the ball, an infringement that should have stopped play before Messi ever got his shot off.
Protests from Austria’s players fell on deaf ears, as the officials saw nothing wrong, while VAR allowed the goal to stand. The decision sparked debate, especially since the reigning World Cup champion missed a penalty kick less than 10 minutes into the game.
The contentious goal came in the 38th minute when Facundo Medina found Messi unmarked at the top of the box and the Inter Miami captain laced an unstoppable shot into the lower corner. The other came when he pounced on a Nicolas Seiwald rebound of his shot over five minutes into added time.
Mbappé scored his third goal of the tournament with a laser beam strike from the edge of the box 14 minutes in, and his second of the day came off a poor pass to the Iraq goalkeeper that Ousmane Dembélé recovered and passed to Mbappé, who tapped it over the goal line after a 2 1/2 hour weather delay.
On the rain-soaked pitch in the Meadowlands, Norway hung on for a 3-2 win against Senegal thanks to a seam-splitting Martin Ødegaard through ball that Haaland left-footed into the upper corner of the net just minutes into the second half. The 25-year-old marksman then used his right foot to redirect Sander Berg’s cross over the line off the crossbar 10 minutes later.
Like Messi, Haaland also could have had a hat trick, but two great opportunities went begging when he hit the upright from eight yards out after stealing the ball from Senegalese keeper Edouard Mendy, who redeemed the error with a goal-line save of the Terminator’s header seconds later.
All three teams secured their spots in the Round of 32, but none have won their group. Argentina is a sure bet for Group J, while Norway and France (each six points) face off on Friday at Boston Stadium to determine the Group I winner.