Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland have kept up the pace in what is shaping up to be one of the most hotly-contested World Cup Golden Boot battles in memory.
The superstars are delivering on the biggest stage of them all and are setting a blistering pace in the race to be the 2026 tournament’s top goalscorer.
Messi heads the field with five goals from two games after his double against Austria secured Argentina a 2-0 victory.
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South American football expert Tim Vickery debates whether Messi is the greatest footballer of all time after he became the World Cup’s leading scorer
Mbappe and Haaland are just behind Messi with four goals after doubles of their own in respective wins for France and Norway.
It is the first World Cup since since 1954 – and only the second tournament in history – where three players have scored four or more times after two matches, and Harry Kane could join them with two goals for England against Ghana on Tuesday evening.
How the race for the Golden Boot stands…
Could more records tumble?
Miroslav Klose started the tournament out in front on the all-time World Cup goalscoring chart with 16 goals.
Two games in and Messi is now two ahead with 18, while Mbappe has pulled level with the Germany striker, whose international career spanned the World Cups from 2002 to 2014.
Haaland is now Norway’s leading goalscorer at World Cups after just two games, while one more Kane goal would see him go past Gary Lineker as England’s top World Cup scorer.
All four players will be targeting Just Fontaine’s 1958 record of 13 goals in a single tournament.
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The big hitters have arrived, how Messi reacted to scoring a hat-trick for Argentina, with Mbappe and Haaland each scoring a double for France and Norway respectively
Only three players in World Cup history – Fontaine, Germany’s Gerd Muller in 1970 and Hungary’s Sandor Kocsis in 1954 – have ever hit double figures at a single tournament.
At the current rate of scoring at this tournament, three or more players could do it this summer!
Will anyone else join the party?
England’s Harry Kane celebrates after scoring against Croatia
The big question is: will anyone else gatecrash the Golden Boot party?
After the exploits of Messi, Mbappe and Haaland, Kane (two goals) has his chance to get in the mix against Ghana.
Like Mbappe, the England captain, whose overall World Cup goal tally stands at 10, has the chance to become the first striker to win multiple Golden Boots.
Spain’s Lamine Yamal (one goal) got his tournament up and running with a goal against Saudi Arabia, while Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to trouble the scorers for Portugal – but there are still plenty of games left for them to mount a challenge.
Meanwhile, Deniz Undav has three goals from Germany’s opening two games and a deep run in the tournament could see him get into contention, while Netherland’s Cody Gakpo (two) has a good scoring record at major tournaments.
Brazil’s Matheus Cunha celebrates with Vinicius Junior and Lucas Paqueta
Brazil duo Vinicius Junior and Matheus Cunha (both two) will also be targeting a few more goals and there is the challenge from the host nations’ forwards. Could Canada’s Jonathan David (three) and USA’s Folarin Balogun (two) get enough games to fire themselves into contention?
The problem for the rest is Messi, Mbappe and Haaland, and potentially Kane, show no signs of slowing down any time soon.
