Algeria coach says errors helped Messi score hat-trick to tie World Cup record

KANSAS CITY: Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic said mistakes from his team had made it easier for Lionel Messi to score the hat-trick that saw him match the World Cup scoring record in Argentina’s 3-0 victory in Kansas City on Tuesday.

Messi picked the North Africans apart in a winning start to Argentina’s title defence, and while Petkovic applauded the 38-year-old’s performance he said his players had given him too much room to manoeuvre.

“Class is permanent, because we’re not talking about any old player here, we’re talking about a footballer who has won the Ballon d’Or seven or eight times in his career,” said Petkovic.

“Unfortunately, we also afforded him an opportunity with the first and second goal, and we made it easier for him to score the goals. “But Messi, with his clear thinking at crucial stages of the game, can do things that much more easily.

“He has the privilege that the entire Argentina team works for him and supports him, and for several years, nay for decades, he’s been doing incredible things. Argentina had 10 shots today, and seven of those shots came from Messi.”

Algeria goalkeeper Luca Zidane could have done better with Messi’s first goal, and he then spilled a shot that allowed the Argentine to tap home his second on the hour mark.

Messi completed his hat-trick in the 76th minute with a blistering strike after being teed up by substitute Nico Gonzalez.

Messi equals World Cup scoring record with hat-trick

“It’s not my style to blame one player or another but I do think we did make a few too many mistakes in terms of allowing the Argentina players to have free shots on goal,“ said Petkovic.

“We can blame ourselves, but we need to work on this and we need to learn lessons from this.”

Petkovic said it was important Algeria pick themselves up for their remaining Group J games against Jordan on June 22 and Austria five days later.

“We mustn’t be too down in the dumps about the three goals we’ve conceded, but we need to be a little bit more balanced,“ he added. “We need to move the ball a little more quickly.

And we’ll be up against a different calibre of opposition, so we’ll have different expectations, but we need to make sure the team has that belief, because we know that we can do it.”