A Golden Boot race for the ages - but who will come out on top?
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- Lionel Messi leads the Golden Boot standings with five goals from two games, breaking Miroslav Klose's all-time World Cup scoring record to reach 18 goals across 28 World Cup appearances.
- Kylian Mbappe sits second with four goals, pulling level with Klose on 16 career World Cup goals after scoring twice in France's weather-delayed win over Iraq on his 100th international cap.
- Erling Haaland also has four goals after scoring twice against Senegal to send Norway through to the last 32, becoming only the sixth player to net multiple goals in each of his first two World Cup matches.
- Harry Kane, who matched Gary Lineker's England World Cup goalscoring record with an opening-day double, will get his chance to join the race when England face Ghana on Tuesday.
- The tournament marks the first time since 1954 that three players have scored four or more goals after two World Cup matches, a feat the BBC attributes in part to the expanded 48-team format that introduces more lower-ranked opposition and an extra knockout round.
- Just Fontaine's 1958 record of 13 goals in a single tournament remains the benchmark, with only Gerd Muller (1970) and Sandor Kocsis (1954) having ever hit double figures at one World Cup.
- Norway manager Stale Solbakken pushed Haaland's credentials by noting the striker 'is not playing for France or Argentina' but still has four goals, while France's Gael Clichy told BBC Sport this generation of stars carries a 'fearless factor' that sets them apart.
Why it matters: Three of football's biggest stars are rewriting the record books simultaneously at a single World Cup — only the second time in tournament history that three players have four-plus goals after two games. The expanded 48-team format and extra knockout round mean Fontaine's 67-year-old single-tournament record of 13 goals is now under more realistic threat than at any point since 1958, and the winner of the Golden Boot will cement a legacy-defining stat line on the sport's biggest stage.
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