ATLANTA (AP) — At age 38 and playing in his sixth World Cup, Lionel Messi has his first hat trick in soccer's biggest tournament and Argentina's defense of the trophy is off to a flying start.
Messi's three goals in the 3-0 win over Algeria on Tuesday saw him become the joint highest scorer in men's World Cup history alongside Germany's Miroslav Klose with 16 in total. It was also the first hat trick of this year's tournament and the 55th in World Cup history.
Hat tricks used to have a very different meaning
The term “hat trick” is well-known to sports fans in the United States and, just like soccer, it is used in hockey to describe when a player scores three goals in one game. But it was originally used in cricket and is widely regarded to date back to 1858 when English bowler H.H. Stephenson took three wickets off consecutive balls. It is said that a collection was made and Stephenson was presented with a hat to mark the feat.
The term has since spread to other sports to not only describe three goals, but anything from three consecutive wins, championships or even defeats.
According to the NHL, “hat trick” was used by newspapers as early as the 1930s and the Hockey Hall of Fame traces it back to a promotion by Toronto businessman Sammy Taft offering a free hat to a player who scored three goals in an NHL game in the city.
Messi joins a list of greats to score World Cup hat tricks
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that it took Messi so long to record the latest feat in his trophy-laden career.
The game against Algeria was his record-extending 27th in the World Cup, two more than Germany's Lothar Matthäus. His first appearance was in 2006.
Messi became the oldest player to score a World Cup hat trick and joined a list of greats that include Pelé, Eusebio, Gerd Müller, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappé.
The next target will be to join an even more elite list of players to have scored multiple World Cup hat tricks.
Only four players have achieved that feat: Sándor Kocsis, Just Fontaine, Müller and Gabriel Batistuta.
The first World Cup hat trick was scored by an American
It was at the first edition of the World Cup in 1930 that American Bert Patenaude scored the competition's first hat trick in a 3-0 win over Paraguay. But it took several decades for it to be officially recognized by FIFA because there was a dispute over the scorer of one of the goals.
According to the U.S. soccer federation, historian Colin Jose helped to convince FIFA to amend its records.
For a long time, England's Geoff Hurst was the only player to score a hat trick in a World Cup final as the Three Lions were crowned champion in 1966.
Mbappé emulated that feat in 2022, but he ended up on the losing team in Qatar against Messi's triumphant Argentina.
World Cup hat tricks are becoming less common
The most hat tricks in a single World Cup was eight in the 1954 edition. The only edition in which none were scored was in 2006.
The last time there were more than two hat tricks at a World Cup was back in 1986 when there were four.
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup
