The French striker became the all-time World Cup leader in goals during Saturday’s third-place match against England.
In the utter goal frenzy that was the 2026 World Cup Bronze Final in Miami, French star striker Kylian Mbappé scored a brace and had an assist against England, reclaiming his place as the leader of the Golden Boot race with 10 total goals and four assists this summer as well as setting a new all-time World Cup goal-scoring record with 22 total, a feat the 27-year-old achieved across just three tournament appearances .legend Lionel Messi in both the Golden Boot race and the all-time goals record in Saturday’s affair.
Messi sat atop the podium in both categories ahead of the third-place match, which ended in a dramatic 6–4 victory for. Messi had eight goals and four assists, ahead of Mbappé on the first tie-breaker, which is assist count. Those eight had brought Messi to a record of 21 total World Cup goals. Lionel Messi is tantalizingly close to the Golden Boot.
| Zhizhao Wu/Getty Images—a defense-minded team that has conceded just once all tournament—to again move past Mbappé for both his first-ever Golden Boot win and the all-time World Cup goals record.this summer. He also scored a brace in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar against none other than Mbappé’s France, en route to victory in penalty kicks. Nevermind that Mbappé had a hat trick in that game. Two goals alone will not suffice for Messi.
He will need the extra assist because should both stars end on 10 goals and four assists, the second tie-breaker is fewer minutes played, which would likely go to Mbappé, who played 698 minutes this World Cup. Should Messi log a full 90 minutes as expected in the final, he will end with 710 total minutes.
No matter how it all shakes out, nothing can take away from the fact that Mbappé achieved the same amount of tournament goals as Messi in half the amount of tournament outings. Messi is competing in his record-sixth World Cup, twice as many summers as Mbappé needed to reach such unprecedented heights.
READ THE LATEST WORLD CUP NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FCSophia Vesely is a writer, reporter and editor for SI FC, with an emphasis on North American coverage. Her experience comes from regional journalism as a former sports reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, Dallas Morning News and Seattle Times. Vesely graduated from Swarthmore College, where she played collegiate soccer as a wingback. She specializes in MLS, NWSL and NCAA soccer.
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