Golden Boot race: Dembele joins Mbappe in Messi chase after hat-trick
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- Lionel Messi leads the Golden Boot race with 5 goals from two games after his double against Austria secured Argentina a 2-0 victory.
- Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and Vinicius Junior each sit on 4 goals after doubles in wins for France, Norway, and Brazil respectively, with Ousmane Dembele joining them on 4 via a first-half hat-trick against Norway.
- Messi now has 18 career World Cup goals — two ahead of Miroslav Klose's all-time record of 16 — while Mbappe has pulled level with Klose on 16.
- Harry Kane has twice scored against Croatia and sits on 10 career World Cup goals; one more would surpass Gary Lineker as England's all-time World Cup top scorer.
- Cristiano Ronaldo got off the mark with a double against Uzbekistan, becoming the first player to score in six World Cups and the oldest to score multiple goals in a single match.
- Just Fontaine's 1958 record of 13 goals at a single tournament is in sight — only Fontaine, Gerd Muller (1970), and Sandor Kocsis (1954) have ever hit double figures at one World Cup.
- Canada's Jonathan David (hat-trick vs Qatar, 3 goals) and USA's Folarin Balogun (2 goals under Mauricio Pochettino) lead the host-nation scoring charge.
Why it matters: At the current pace, three or more players could reach double figures at a single World Cup — a feat only achieved by Just Fontaine (1958), Gerd Muller (1970), and Sandor Kocsis (1954) in the tournament's entire history. Messi (5 goals), Mbappe, Haaland, Vinicius, and Dembele (all on 4) are just two games in, meaning Fontaine's 68-year-old record of 13 is genuinely under threat for the first time.
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