With three goals in his debut, the Argentine captain, Lionel Messi, surpassed the doubles of the first day and leads the standings alone with three goals.
Until before the Albiceleste match, Kylian Mbappé (France), Erling Haaland (Norway), Folarin Balogun (United States), Kai Havertz (Germany), Yasin Ayari (Sweden) and Elijah Just (New Zealand) shared the lead, all with two goals.
Now, Messi leads the race for the Golden Boot with three goals and, in addition, he equaled Miroslav Klose’s absolute record by reaching 16 goals in the history of the World Cups. Messi has 120 goals in 200 games with the Argentina team.
Mbappé led France’s 3-1 victory over Senegal at MetLife Stadium with two goals, reaching 58 goals for the French national team and becoming his country’s all-time top scorer, ahead of Olivier Giroud. He also raised his World Cup tally to 14 goals.
Haaland, for his part, made his debut in a final phase with a double against Iraq, with goals in the 29th and 43rd minutes. The forward has 57 goals in 51 games with Norway and extended his record as his team’s all-time top scorer.
In other groups, Folarin Balogun scored twice in the United States’ victory over Paraguay; Kai Havertz did the same in Germany’s win over Curacao, while Yasin Ayari and Elijah Just completed the list of players who scored doubles on the opening day.
Other players who have scored a goal in the tournament are Alexander Isak, Amad Diallo, Deniz Undav, Julián Quiñones, Raúl Jiménez and Mohammad Mohebbi, among others. The table reflects the high offensive power of the first World Cup with 48 teams.
One of the most attractive matches of the group stage will be France-Norway on June 26, in which Mbappé and Haaland could face each other directly. However, Messi took a clear advantage in the fight for the Golden Boot after his historic performance in Kansas City, where he also celebrated exactly 20 years since his World Cup debut.
With the group stage still underway, the race for the tournament’s top scorer remains open, but the Argentine captain sets the pace after his first match.