Miami, July 19 (IANS) France’s Kylian Mbappe broke Lionel Messi’s all-time World Cup scoring record of 21 in the third-place play-off, though Les Bleus lost 6-4 to England.
Both Mbappe and Messi began World Cup 2026 adrift of former leader Miroslav Klose. Mbappe now has 22 World Cup goals in as many matches, scoring twice to move ahead of Messi and extend his lead in the Golden Boot race to 10 goals at this tournament, two ahead of Messi.
Prior to the FIFA World Cup 2026, Klose led the overall scoring charts, but he has now seen his previous mark of 16 obliterated not once, but twice, by Mbappe and Messi during the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the USA.
First of all, Messi moved level with the German after a hat-trick – his first in the World Cup – in Argentina’s opening game against Algeria. The Argentina legend then became the outright leader with a brace in the win over Austria before further goals in their final group game with Jordan, the epic Round of 32 encounter against Cabo Verde and the enthralling Round of 16 win over Egypt.
But it is Mbappe who now tops the list, having continued his astonishing exploits at the global showpiece with ten more goals to add to the 12 he scored across Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022.
The France forward hit a trio of braces against Senegal, Iraq and Sweden, followed by a penalty against Paraguay, the opener against Morocco and then two more in the bronze final with England giving him an almost-incomprehensible 22 goals from a mere 22 games.
Moreover, the French captain has returned to the front of the pack in the Golden Boot standings after finding the net twice in the FIFA World Cup 2026 bronze final defeat by England.
Mbappe has hit 10 goals in eight outings in North America. The only men with more in a World Cup are Sandor Kocsis with 11 for Hungary in 1954 and Just Fontaine with 13 for France in 1958.
–IANS
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