All teams have played one match each in the World Cup until Thursday. What was the real story when this first round of matches ended? Lionel Messi's outstanding performance with a hat-trick, Cape Verde holding a team like Spain to a draw and many other notable events. In particular, the first round match was more exciting and sensational than expected. 

There is still more to Messi

Messi's career was complete when he won the World Cup for Argentina in Qatar four years ago. But he did not stop. Messi's 39th birthday is very close. Perhaps this magical player still has a lot to do. He is chasing another great success. Perhaps this hat-trick against Algeria is saying this. 

Of Messi's three goals against Algeria, two were powerful strikes and one was just a light touch from close range. Messi's joy knew no bounds in this performance. He himself said, 'In the end, what happened was good, nothing could be better.'

Many also saw Messi's greatness in this game. And many praised his perseverance. Now Argentina will face Austria in the game on Monday. In that, Messi will have the opportunity to set more records.

He is also one of the evergreen and all-time great players in world football. The first round match has strengthened this claim even more. 

Ronaldo faded

After the current three superstars of world football, Messi, France's Kylian Mbappe and Norway's Erling Haaland, shone, it was Cristiano Ronaldo's turn to perform similarly. After the same round of matches, all three of these players have even become candidates for the Golden Boot Award. But the Portuguese player faced none other than a team like DR Congo. He had the opportunity to do better than his personal rival. But he could not. 

Ronaldo, who is playing professional football in Saudi Arabia, remained silent for most of the match. Thankfully, Portugal managed to draw 1-1.

Ronaldo did not even get to celebrate his sixth World Cup appearance. The 41-year-old touched the ball a total of 25 times during the entire match. 

This same Ronaldo is now trying to reach the thousandth goal of his career, including his country and club. But he has really lost his rhythm of late. That is why he has not been able to score in the last 10 matches. Now, the debate has started about whether Ronaldo should be kept in the starting team or on the bench. 

Cape Verde proves the point

Cape Verde goalkeeper Vojinha became very emotional after the match against Spain ended in a goalless draw. He was surrounded by all the Verde players at the time. Cape Verde's performance against the European champions was certainly not lacking. Otherwise, Spain was expected to win this game very easily. The performance of 40-year-old Vojinha in Cape Verde's World Cup debut was truly amazing. 

In the meantime, Cape Verde has proven one fact. This is, it is right to have 48 teams participate in this World Cup. There were many who criticized FIFA for playing so many teams. One of them was the president of the European Football Confederation, Aleksander Ceferin. He used to say that the World Cup itself is not fun when there are so many teams. 

Moreover, there are many one-sided games. Cape Verde has proven this fact wrong, at least for now. Vojinha suddenly became a superstar. That is why the number of followers on his Instagram before the World Cup was 50 thousand. Now it has exceeded 13 million. 

Expensive tickets, the audience is the same

The stadium where this year's Super Bowl final was held is Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. This was the match between Austria and Jordan. The stadium was packed to watch this match. Many might think that this match would be the least attractive. Moreover, the tickets were expensive. But despite this, the number of spectators who came to watch the match was 68,527. 

Four red cards

Only four red cards were shown in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Compared to previous World Cups, there was a significant decrease in the number of red cards shown at that time. However, after three red cards were shown in the first match between Mexico and South Africa, many wondered if there would be more red cards this time. But no, no red cards were shown in the following 23 matches.