Lionel Messi celebrated his 200th international game with a truly phenomenal performance in the first match of the group stage against Algeria. He scored a hat trick and achieved a record 16 points in the World Cup finals, putting him on par with German legend Miroslav Klose. This is not just a list of numbers, but an event that proves why he is called ‘God’, combined with the unprecedented record of participating in the World Cup finals for the 6th consecutive time. In particular, this hat trick remains the oldest in World Cup history, once again emphasizing the value of a man named Messi. Messi's ability to ravage the Algerian defense with his overwhelming skill and vision throughout the game proves why Argentina is a strong candidate to win this tournament.

Austria, in the same group, also shook up the group stage with a thrilling victory in its return to the World Cup finals after 28 years. Although they struggled against Jordan, Romano Schmidt's first goal, the opponent's own goal, and Marko Arnautovic's penalty kick gave them three valuable points, 3-1. Although Jordan lost, Ali Olwan kept the spark of hope alive by scoring the team's first goal in the World Cup finals, and Yazan Al-Arab, who plays for K-League FC Seoul, showed his fighting spirit at the center of the defense. With Argentina and Austria winning side by side, the upcoming second match of the group stage is expected to be the biggest battle to determine first place in the group.

World Cup fever is heating up even outside the stadium. Recently, in Polymarket, a global prediction market, large-scale betting by 'smart money' predicting Argentina's victory continues, and experts and investors are also predicting Argentina's superiority. Messi's experience as the defending champion and his presence are receiving overwhelming support in numerical prediction models. Meanwhile, in the other group, Norway's monster striker Erling Haaland showed off his firepower by scoring multiple goals against Iraq, and France also began its march toward the championship by defeating Senegal thanks to Kylian Mbappe's performance. As superstars from each country compete to score goals from the beginning, this tournament is expected to be a record-breaking World Cup filled with a flurry of goals.

The Argentina national team has completed perfect preparations ahead of this World Cup. They defeated Iceland 3-0 in an evaluation match held just before the tournament, proving that Messi, who had raised concerns about a hamstring injury last month, has fully recovered. The fact that Messi scored a penalty kick two minutes after coming on as a substitute and provided a decisive killer pass to his teammates shows that Argentina's tactical perfection has reached its peak. The defense team also boasted solid organization by keeping clean sheets in most games during the warm-up period. All that remains now is how consistent they can be in getting past the group stage and against the tough opponents they will face in the tournament.