World Cup, Group J: Argentina 3 (L. Messi 17′,60′,76′) Algeria 0The last time we saw Lionel Messi in the World Cup he scored two goals in the final to win it. That night in Lusail, Qatar, was such a perfect culmination of a career-long struggle that it was natural to assume it would be his final bow, that the final would be the last time we would ever see him in the World Cup. Well, here he is again, scoring a sensational hat-trick in Kansas City to draw level with Miroslav Klose as the top scorer in the history of the competition. As the Argentina fans exulted in this glory show under the big sky of the midwest, it felt like maybe Messi can just keep doing this forever. The first goal came on 17, when Rodrigo de Paul pierced the Algerian midfield with a pass straight up the middle to the feet of the unmarked 10. Messi, unmarked, turned towards goal, advanced with four quick touches, and hit a left-footed outswinger towards the top right corner. Luca Zidane went for it with both hands but didn’t seem to get any spring towards the ball. To the joy of fully 99 per cent of the crowd at the Arrowhead Stadium, the ball skidded off his hands and into the net. The maestro had blessed the night with a goal. Those who had paid $1,000 or more to be here would always be able to say they saw Messi score in the World Cup. But it was to get much better than that. It was to turn into the kind of night that they will talk so much about their children and grandchildren will grow to dread hearing the stories about it, will suffer an involuntary narcoleptic reflex at the very mentions of the words “Kansas” or “Arrowhead”.Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates scoring the second goal against Algeria in Kansas City, Photograph: EPA It was simply astonishing to watch a player who turns 39 next week play at a level that does not seem to have dipped at all since he won the World Cup three-and-a-half years ago. Old players will tell you that footballers just get better and better as they age, It’s only their bodies that let them down. So how has Messi’s small and unprepossessing body lasted so long? The first answers that spring to mind could be grouped under the loose heading of “advances in sports medicine” – but his great contemporaries Cristiano Ronaldo (1985) and Luis Suarez (1987) presumably have had access to the same level of “care”, and now move with the jerky stiffness of robots whose joints have not been oiled in many years. Cesc Fabregas, born within a few weeks of Messi in the summer of 87, has long retired, as have the 1988 duo of Sergio Aguero and Sergio Busquets, and 1989’s Gareth Bale. You could say that Messi’s “economical” style of play (walking more and running less than pretty much everyone else in the game) has kept wear and tear to a minimum – but Ronaldo past the age of 25 was not known for running the hard yards, and a guy like Busquets hardly ever broke out of a stroll. In the end, it must have something to do with the extraordinary control his mind exerts over his body. More than anyone else we’ve seen in the game, Messi’s mind and body are one. He doesn’t seem prone to those fractional moments of clumsiness that can bring down even the best athletes with muscle injuries – of the kind, for example, that Achraf Hakimi suffered in the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich. It seems uncontroversial to contend that Messi has the ability to process more visual information in a given time than most people do, like a computer with a superior graphics card. Could it also be that his brain and muscles are linked with an unusual speed and density of nervous connection, as though his systems are running on fibre-optic cable while the rest of us get by on copper?Admittedly, this may not be the proper place for neuroanatomical speculations. It’s a question for our scientific friends could investigate. Suffice it to say that – within the limitations of his 38-year old slowness – Messi remains as masterful as ever – that he has in fact attained unprecedented level of on-pitch charisma and authority. He now trots rather than runs, but you expect him always to be able to beat the first man, always to play the right pass, always to play the ball at the right time with the right weight, and then somehow to materialise in the next phase of the move deciding what happens next. He has been at the top for so long that in every match he plays the whole stadium is there to see him. But also, everyone he plays against grew up watching him on TV and idolising him.This also goes for his team-mates, who must sometimes struggle with the fear of embarrassing themselves in front of him. There was a moment in the first half when Messi turned acutely to beat one opponent, shuffled past a second and found Lautaro Martinez running down the right wing. Lautaro looked up and booted a terrible cross out of play for a throw in on the far side. Generally though, the Argentine players in their 20s have talked about playing alongside Messi as an inspiration. The feel much as the Greeks must have felt to have Achilles on their side. Argentina players celebrate their second goal against Argentina. Photograph: EPA One such is Alexis MacAllister, hoping here to redeem his bad season with Liverpool. On the hour mark MacAllister found space 28 yards out and fizzed a terrific shot that bounced just in front of Zidane. The Algerian keeper couldn’t hold it and suddenly advancing alone towards the loose ball was – you know who it was. Anticipating that Messi would go left-footed towards his bottom-right corner Zidane leapt desperately to his right but Messi, whose seconds last that little bit longer than other people’s, delayed the finish a fraction and rolled it right-footed to the other side. In the process he made young Zidane look foolish; it just happened to be the simplest way to finish, albeit not one that would have occurred to most players. Amazingly, there was still more to come. On 76, Messi advanced, gave it to Nico Gonzalez, took the return pass at the edge of the D, nudged it sideways to open up a lane between the defenders and hammered a low shot into the bottom corner. One of those arrows, as at Wembley in 2011, that the keeper never has any chance of getting to. This time, even Messi looked like he couldn’t quite believe it.