Matchday 6 of the FIFA World Cup has already seen some cracking football, with the superstars of the game coming to play. Here we recount what happened, with the latest match first.
Austria 3 - 1 Jordan
(Schmid 20', Al-Arab 76' (OG); Olwan 50')
Austria survived a big scare against Asian Cup runners-up Jordan, winning their Group J opener 3-1 with a strong second half performance. It was a thrilling, end-to-end match that started with two crackers: long range hits from Romano Schmid and Ali Iyad Olwan keeping it at 1-1 at halftime with both teams giving as good as they got.
Late in the second half, with Austria amping up the pressure, a set piece led to chaos and Yazan Abu Al-Arab turning it into his own net. With Jordan flooding forward to equalise, Austria countered at pace, and one of those led to a handball picked out by VAR. From the spot, veteran Marko Arnautovic made no mistake.
Argentina 3 - 0 Algeria
(Messi 17', 60', 76')
Lionel Messi was the star again as a first World Cup hattrick floored Algeria and gave the defending champions Argentina a winning start to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Messi's three goals now mean he's tied Miroslav Klose's 16-goal World Cup record.
After one goal each was ruled offside by VAR (correctly), the scoring started early when a sensational Rodrigo de Paul pass split the Algerian midfield en-route Messi. Charging forward, Messi let fly from just outside the D and hit it with power, too much power for Luca Zidane in Algeria goal.
A controlled Argentine performance followed before an Alexis Mac Allister shot was spilled onto Messi's path and he tapped it in from a couple of yards out. 16 minutes after that, Messi raced in from the right and cut in before curling a low shot into the bottom corner: a throwback goal to mark a throwback performance.
(Hussein 39'; Haaland 29', 43', Ostigard 76', Thorstvedt 90' +7')
Norway marked their return to the biggest stage with an emphatic 4-1 win over Iraq in Boston.
Erling Haaland got things going after a tight start as he slid in for a typical poacher's finish off a superb David Wolfe low cross. Iraq hit back with Ayman Hussein powering a superb header past Orjan Nyland in the Norway goal -- with Amir Al-Ammari's cross lacking pace, Hussein had to generate a considerable amount of it while hanging in the air for a long time, and he did just that for a spectacular finish. The Iraqi cheer didn't last long, though, and as keeper Jalal Hassan hesitated on the ball, Haaland closed him down and saw a rushed clearance clatter off his shins and into the goal. In his first World Cup half, Haaland had already bagged a brace.
Norway shut Iraq down for most of the second half, before substitute Leo Ostigard rose high to power home a Martin Odegaard corner with thumping power. Then, with almost the last touch of the game, Kristian Thorstvedt glanced home a header after a Haaland flick on to make it 4. The result leaves Norway leading France in Group I via goal difference after matchday 1.
France 3 - 1 Senegal
(Mbappe 66', 90'+6'; Barcola 82'; Mbaye 90'+5')
An imperious second half performance from Kylian Mbappé and France saw the 2022 runners-up (and 2018 winners, of course) beat a tough Senegal outfit 3-1 in the opener of Group I.
After a rather anonymous first half - in which Senegal had the better of it, and Ismaïla Sarr missed a golden chance from a few yards out -- the pair of Mbappe and Michael Olise sparked France to life. First, Mbappe had strong claims for a penalty (after a rash challenge by Sadio Mané) waved away by the referee on-field and after going to the TV monitor to review. A few moments later, Olise played a sensational through ball from centre-to-inside-right and Mbappe zipped past marker Kalidou Koulibaly to sweep it past Édouard Mendy. Having made a couple of superb saves earlier off Mbappe and Olise, there was little he could do about this finish.
Bradley Barcola then came on and made an impact within a couple of minutes. He ran onto a clever Adrien Rabiot through ball, racing past the Senegalese defensive line and chipped a fast-advancing Mendy with a delicate finish. That seemed to be that before PSG wunderkind Ibrahim Mbaye (18) turned Theo Hernández inside-out and lashed a shot off Mike Maignan (whose save attempt was poor) to make it 2-1.
Within a minute, though, Mbappe restored the two-goal advantage with a sensational hit from 29m out. The goal made it 14 for him across World Cups, the third most of all time behind Germany's Miroslva Klose (16) and Brazil's Ronaldo (15) as well as making him France's leading scorer of all time (58, moving past Olivier Giroud).