AILSA CHANG, HOST:
All right. As Argentina opened its World Cup title defense against Algeria yesterday, much of the conversation centered on one question. Should 38-year-old Lionel Messi even be playing? The Argentinian captain entered the tournament with questions about his fitness. Some wondered whether one of the greatest players the sport has ever seen was finally showing his age. Well, 17 minutes into the match, Messi delivered his answer.
And we would naturally have some sound of that moment, but FIFA is really strict about rebroadcasting any of their tapes. So take it from us, by night's end, Messi had scored three times. The hat trick helped power Argentina to victory and tied him for the most goals in men's World Cup history. Nico Cantor is a commentator with the CBS Sports Golazo Network. He watched it all unfold and joins us now from Seattle. Welcome, Nico.
NICO CANTOR: Ailsa, thank you for having me.
CHANG: Oh, thank you for being with us. OK, let's just start with that question everyone was asking before kickoff. Given all the concerns about Messi's hamstring, what were you expecting to see from him against Algeria yesterday?
CANTOR: Yeah. Perhaps we didn't expect Messi to be at 100% because he had this nagging injury. Of course, at 38 years old, he's a little bit more injury-prone than he was earlier in his career. There were questions about Messi playing in the World Cup. But in reality, I don't know why that was ever a question because Messi has stayed sharp. And I think a lot of Europhiles, which is the term that we use for soccer fans - football fans...
CHANG: Yeah.
CANTOR: ...That only watch European football. They haven't seen Messi play in about three years because ever since he made his move to Major League Soccer here in the United States, perhaps Messi, for the first time ever, isn't top of mind for your football fan that is either based in Europe...
CHANG: OK.
CANTOR: ...Or watches European football.
CHANG: Maybe not. But let's just remind everybody, six World Cups. Yes, he is almost 40 years old. But he still dominates games like this, right?
CANTOR: Right.
CHANG: So for those of us taking all of this in, what is it about Messi's style of play that resonates so deeply with not just Argentinians but fans all around the world?
CANTOR: Yeah, definitely. He's almost, like, quarterbacking the team. He's economic in his movements.
CHANG: Oh.
CANTOR: He knows when to go full throttle. He receives the ball. He's very quick with his passing. He lets the ball do the running for him, and not only that, his teammates as well. And you can tell that there's this harmony with the team that they understand what he needs to give. And when they find him, the team is better. He makes everybody around him better, too.
CHANG: I love that. Well, Argentina came into this tournament as the defending champion. So how does a performance like yesterday's shape expectations for what this team can accomplish over the next month, you think?
CANTOR: It does shape a lot. It sets the tone, right?
CHANG: Yeah.
CANTOR: Messi scoring a hat trick in the very first game. Let's remember that in the World Cup in Qatar, Argentina lost their first game. And it's not often that...
CHANG: Oh, yeah.
CANTOR: ...A World Cup champion loses a first game of the World Cup. It's very rare. It's only happened twice in history. So Argentina winning the first match does set the tone. I think there's a subplot here. Messi was crying after he scored his first goal. And yesterday, they asked him about his tears, and he said it was something foreign to football. It was something totally unrelated to the sport. And today, Argentine press is reporting that his father is in a delicate state of health...
CHANG: Oh, no.
CANTOR: ...At the moment. Yeah. And this is kind of very fresh news that the public is understanding. So for Messi, you know, the motivation, perhaps, to play for his father, and everybody within the squad understanding that, definitely adds...
CHANG: Yeah.
CANTOR: ...Just a little bit more to the tone...
CHANG: Yeah.
CANTOR: ...Of this World Cup for Messi and for Argentina. And the culture in Argentina, their mentality, their expectation, even from the start, was to win this whole thing and go back-to-back, which is also a very rare feat.
CHANG: Nico Cantor is a commentator with the CBS Sports Golazo Network. Thank you so much, Nico.
CANTOR: Yes. Thank you very much for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF KOFFEE AND KANDEE SONG, "LOTS OF FUN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
