There is a wonderful World Cup advert in Argentina that sums up how people may be feeling across the country this morning, after Lionel Messi’s stunning hat-trick against Algeria.Leading up to the tournament, there had been a sense that Argentina’s job had already been done. By winning the World Cup in Qatar 2022, the dream had been realised, the mission accomplished.National broadcaster TyC Sport tapped into this feeling brilliantly; in a staged interview with a reporter on the street, a fan says, “To be honest, after two Copas America and one World Cup, I’m kind of done already”.A passer-by hears this, interrupts and looks into the camera, giving a passionate rallying call to people in their homes, cafes and workplaces if they are done too. “They say that football owed Messi a World Cup,” he says. “Who knows how many it owes him — what if it owes him two?”Messi, Mbappe and Haaland put on a show | World Cup Daily BriefingMegan Feringa and Amitai WinehouseJudging by the throngs of Argentina supporters that have descended on the World Cup, lighting up Times Square with their chanting and jumping, it would be hard to say they are lacking enthusiasm for this one, but Messi lit a fire under their campaign in Foxborough on Tuesday.The world is waking up to yet another seismic Messi moment and another piece of World Cup history, wondering if Argentina can become only the second team in history to win the tournament back-to-back.Little has changed for Argentina since 2022, in the sense that the team is stable and ticks along very nicely, allowing Messi to be the difference maker. At 38 years old, though (he turns 39 on June 24), and after four seasons in MLS in the United States, there had been some doubts about exactly how effective he might be at the top level. While that may still prove to be an issue as the tournament progresses, he is, on this evidence, still the main man — and possibly still the best player on the planet.It was especially noticeable early on during the 3-0 win over Algeria, even for him, that he was spending much of the game walking, waiting to pick his moments. By the time he was substituted off after 80 minutes, the job done (for now), he had covered 6.81km, according to FIFA data. For comparison, Kylian Mbappe, another player known for attacking contribution over defensive effort, covered 9.7km in 90 minutes. Erling Haaland, who can spend large parts of the game without the ball, covered 9.6km for Norway.This has long been the case for Messi and Mbappe, and is a fairly routine part of the sport. Olivier Giroud, who won the World Cup with France in 2018, explained to the BBC before the 3-1 victory against Senegal that Didier Deschamps previously played Blaise Matuidi, a less technically gifted player but willing runner, as Giroud put it, to cover for Mbappe’s deficiencies. Former Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho recently explained how Pep Guardiola covered for Sergio Aguero in a similar way.