Argentina – Algeria: Messi’s Hat-trick Ignites Argentina To A Brilliant World Cup Start (3-0)

Algeria couldn’t cope with the physicality of the Argentine midfield while trying to break down their mid-block. On the other end of the pitch, Argentina used the spaces between the lines and in transition phases to punish their opponent. Messi’s masterclass in the final third was the cutting edge in this game alongside Argentina’s fierce defending.

Tactical Analysis and Match Report By Ebuka Ogoegbunam.

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The holders of the World Cup kicked off their opening game against Algeria in Group J. Lionel Messi’s involvement in this year’s World Cup brought a lot of excitement to the Argentine fans as they hoped to go back-to-back as World Cup winners. They faced Algeria in their opener, who haven’t been in the World Cup since 2014.

Lionel Scaloni and his players would love to carry on their journey in making their country proud, while Algeria aimed to produce a surprise result against the World Cup holders. Argentina are favourites to win Group J, with Austria, Algeria, and Jordan fighting for the remaining spot to have a chance to qualify.

Emiliano Martínez started in goal for Argentina with a back four of Gonzalo Montiel, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martínez, and Facundo Medina. The two-man midfield consisted of Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister. Thiago Almada played on the left side of the attack, while Rodrigo De Paul was used on the right side of the 4-4-2. Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martínez led the line for Argentina in their 4-4-2 shape.

Algeria played a 4-3-3 system with Vladimir Petkovic selecting Luca Zidane in goal alongside a back four of Rafik Belghali, Aïssa Mandi, Ramy Bensebaini, and Rayan Aït-Nouri. Nabil Bentaleb played as the defensive midfielder, while Ibrahim Maza and Hicham Boudaoui played higher up as the number eights. Anis Hadj Moussa, Amine Gouiri and Farès Chaïbi made up the front three in the Algerian attack.

Argentina’s play from back to front

Scaloni’s men set up in a 4-4-2 shape on paper but were more flexible in this with their rotations. The midfield of Enzo, Mac Allister, and De Paul was constantly responsible for dropping into the first line of build up to help the team progress up the pitch. Enzo and De Paul did this more as Mac Allister occupied the sole pivot role for most moments of the game.

Algeria’s 4-4-2 mid-block was very cautious, especially with the rotations the Argentine players executed. At times, Enzo dropped into the first line of build-up alongside De Paul while both fullbacks pushed up, acting as wingers. Messi and Almada played in between the lines as the number tens. Messi had more freedom to drop deep and receive the ball.

These rotations gave Argentina more control in the deeper phases, while Algeria remained in its block. Early on, Argentina had to be patient when it tried to play through Algeria’s mid-block. Although Algeria showed signs of confusion in response to Argentina’s midfield rotations, they also showed a bit of aggression. This aggression was easy to execute because of the focus Algeria had in the middle of the pitch, with the lack of wing threats in wide areas for Argentina.

Argentina’s rotations with the midfielders. Fullbacks push high up occupying the width. Messi and Almada are between the lines, looking to receive between the midfield and defensive lines.

Breakthrough, finally, in central areas

Urgency from Argentina to play through the central areas was constant.  With moments of interception and possession loss in central areas, Argentina started to find spaces to play through in these areas. Eventually, Algeria conceded a huge gap in the middle of the pitch, which led to a direct straight pass from De Paul to Messi. Messi drives the ball between the lines and scores from a long-range effort. The keeper would feel he should have done better with saving the shot, but the speed of the ball in that moment got the better of him.

Messi’s goal. De Paul plays a straight ball between the lines to find Messi under no pressure.

This showed how clinical Argentina can be between the lines, and Algeria was punished for the lapse defensively. Argentina got their reward through persistence. This goal opened up the game for Argentina and gave them confidence to keep playing with fluidity. Argentina used more in-to-out combinations to keep the ball.

Algeria’s 4-3-3 shape took advantage of Argentina’s 4-4-2 midblock in the first line. The two fullbacks, Ait Nouri and Belghali, pushed up in the buildup while the team relied on the center backs for progression. With Messi and Lautaro leading the press, Argentina preferred to allow the opposition center backs to have the ball.

Lautaro was tasked to cover Algeria’s pivot, Bentaleb to contain the 3v2 overload in the first line of the press. Algeria created space to exploit Argentina in their build up. Maza pinned Mac Allister in midfield and restricted him from jumping to Bentaleb.

Ait Nouri also pushed up to drag De Paul’s attention away from the buildup. Algeria got some joy playing through their center backs, driving before playing to wide areas to access the pivot behind Messi to progress up the pitch. However, when they tried to get access through the central areas, they were often denied entry on several tries.

Algeria’s 3v2 overload zonal overload in the first line of build-up. Algeria created space to exploit the passive first line of press from Argentina to access the free player in the buildup.

Argentina uses pressure to their advantage

In the second half, Argentina continued to be aggressive defensively, and this helped them gain momentum from Algeria. The game got worse for Algeria when Messi doubled Argentina’s lead later in the second half. Mac Allister’s shot from way out was too powerful for Zidane to hold, as it rebounded towards Messi for a tap-in. Two-nil up, Argentina felt the game was in their control in that moment.

They maintained the momentum they had throughout the game through the link-up play from Lautaro to his teammates from long balls. The center backs failed to be tight to Lautaro, and this gave him room to link up and start attacks.

Lautaro receives the ball under no pressure and links up with teammates to create an attack.

Algeria increased its intent to attack with more central entries after the second goal. Enzo, De Paul and Mac Allister blocked the passing lanes in the central areas and created attacking transitions for Argentina. The lack of pace in Argentina’s transitions was clear to see, but this didn’t limit them from being a threat.

Without the ball, Algeria was more aggressive in their high press, putting pressure on the backline of Argentina. Argentina used this as a means to play quicker and break lines more to attack. This was seen in their third goal. They played through the Algerian pressure and had space to transition. Messi used this space to set up a well-worked goal from range after a one-two pass with Nico González

Messi & Argentina’s third goal. The use of combination play in transition to create space for Messi’s shot.

The game felt like it was done for Algeria after Messi’s third. Algeria continued to pick themselves up by putting pressure to force a consolation goal but they had no answers against Argentina. Argentina’s defense held Algeria to zero shots on target as they kept a clean sheet in the opening game.

Takeaways

Scaloni’s side consistently manipulated Algeria’s shape through fluid rotations and effective occupation of the spaces between the lines, allowing them to gain control of possession and progress through central areas. While Algeria showed moments of promise in build-up, they struggled to cope with Argentina’s physicality, compact defensive structure, and aggressive reactions after losing possession.

Messi was the decisive figure, turning Argentina’s territorial dominance into goals with a clinical hat-trick, but the victory was equally founded on the collective work of the midfield and backline. Enzo Fernández, Alexis Mac Allister, and Rodrigo De Paul controlled central spaces throughout, while the defence restricted Algeria to zero shots on target. Overall, it was a complete and professional display from the reigning champions, who combined control, creativity, and defensive resilience to begin their title defence emphatically.

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