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Yara El-Shaboury has the latest Football Daily round-up.
Yet for all the brilliance of Mbappé and Haaland, football’s greatest showman was not about to accept third billing. Hours after the younger generation had dazzled, Lionel Messi wandered on to the stage and reminded us sequels rarely outperform the original. A first World Cup hat-trick. A record-equalling 16th World Cup goal. Another entry in the ever-expanding folder labelled “proof he still has it”. Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 and Messi was involved in absolutely everything that mattered, including a raking challenge on Aissa Mandi that surely would have been a red card for mere mortals. Perhaps not inconsequentially, Gianni Infantino was in Kansas, watching on through misty eyes.
Ronaldo’s baying followers, swathes of them with local accents and wearing his No 7 shirt, had done their best to cajole a meaningful contribution from their idol but ultimately they had to settle for being under the same roof. Perhaps they expected a repeat of Lionel Messi’s staggering performance the previous night but Ronaldo did little to assuage concerns that his presence, once glorious, is nowadays a dead weight. The watching Gianni Infantino could have been forgiven for wondering whether Fifa’s contortions in freeing him from suspension for this game had been worthwhile.
