Messi came off the bench against Jordan, scored a free kick the goalkeeper probably should have saved, and Argentina finished the group stage perfect. That's the thing about Messi at 39 — he doesn't need 90 minutes to remind you he's still the best player on the planet.
That goal also nudged him to six for the tournament. The Golden Boot race is alive, and for once it actually has the names to match the billing: Messi, Mbappé, Haaland, Vinicius, Kane, Ronaldo. All of them scoring. All of them still in it.
Messi's path to double digits is very real
Three against Algeria, two against Austria, one against Jordan. All while looking like he's playing at about 70 percent effort. His next likely opponents — Cape Verde, then probably Australia or Egypt — are not equipped to stop him. Argentina's bracket beyond that includes Ghana, Colombia, Switzerland, and Algeria. Messi broke the all-time World Cup goals record earlier this tournament. He could hit ten before the quarterfinals.
That's not optimism. That's just bracket math.
Mbappé sits four goals back but has looked loose rather than sharp through France's first three games — which is a strange thing to say about a player who scored four times and added two assists. The movements aren't clicking, the chemistry still building. But Sweden are next, and Mbappé's record in knockout football is a separate conversation entirely. He'll be there when it matters.
Haaland scored four goals in his first two games before being rested for Norway's final group match. Four goals in two appearances. He's 24, playing the best football of his life, and representing a Norway side that will need him to carry them if they're going to go deep. He is going to be a serious problem for any defense at this tournament.
The Golden Boot doesn't win World Cups — but it still matters
Since Ronaldo dragged Brazil to the title in 2002, no Golden Boot winner has lifted the trophy. Mbappé won it in 2022 on the back of a final hat-trick while Argentina took the gold. Kane won it in 2018 while England lost to Croatia in the semis. Rodriguez, Müller, Klose — same story. The individual award and team success have been almost entirely disconnected for two decades.
But that framing undersells what the Golden Boot actually represents. It's a record of moments. James Rodriguez's chest-to-volley against Uruguay in 2014 was one of the greatest goals ever scored at a World Cup. He won the Golden Boot that year. The goal is the thing people still talk about. The award is just the proof it happened.
The Ballon d'Or dimension adds another layer. Kane is a legitimate contender, but Bayern's Champions League absence will cost him votes. Mbappé topped La Liga scoring at Real Madrid, but Madrid won nothing — a problem. Dembele's PSG swept domestically, but individual impact is debatable. And Messi, who plays in MLS, would need a Golden Boot and a World Cup title to seriously enter the conversation. That combination has happened exactly once in the modern era.
- Messi (Argentina): 6 goals, leads the race, favorable draw ahead
- Mbappé (France): 4 goals, 2 assists, not yet at his ceiling
- Haaland (Norway): 4 goals in 2 games, rested in game 3
- Vinicius Jr. (Brazil): 4 goals — doubled his entire 2024 Copa América output
- Kane (England): 3 goals, missed a penalty, missing big-chance sharpness
- Ronaldo (Portugal): Still scoring, still positioning perfectly, still baffling everyone with how little he passes
- Folarin Balogun (USA): On fire. A big performance against Bosnia put him in the conversation
- Brian Brobbey (Netherlands): Scoring freely and shouldn't be dismissed
Ronaldo at 41 deserves a specific mention, even if it's a complicated one. His refusal to involve teammates has reached a point that's genuinely hard to explain for someone of his standing. And yet: he gets in the right positions, and he finishes. His knockout record is poor. None of that stops him from scoring in the group stage.
Six elite strikers. One trophy. And a Golden Boot race that, for the first time in years, actually has stakes beyond the individual award itself.
