"All of these guys, they are not normal." Kevin-Prince Boateng said it after watching Ronaldo bag two goals in Portugal's 5-0 demolition of Uzbekistan, but it applies to every name at the top of the World Cup scoring charts right now. Lionel Messi. Cristiano Ronaldo. Kylian Mbappe. Erling Haaland. Four men, four different generations of football, all converging on the same trophy.
Messi leads with five goals — including the first hat-trick of his World Cup career in Argentina's opener — and broke the all-time World Cup scoring record in Tuesday's 2-0 win over Austria, pushing his career tally to 18. Mbappe is four back on 16, Haaland sits on four goals after a brace against Senegal, and Ronaldo — written off after a goalless run stretching 10 games in major finals — suddenly has 12 career World Cup goals and a point to prove.
Ronaldo's revival and what it means for the race
The Portugal forward had taken some serious heat after his country's shock draw with Congo. At 41, the knives were out. Then came Uzbekistan, two goals, and silence. "That's why we watch him because we know he is a goalscorer," Boateng said. Fair. But Ronaldo is still eight goals behind Messi's record and needs Portugal to go deep — very deep — to have any realistic shot at catching him. The maths are brutal even if the form isn't.
Mbappe, at 27, has quietly positioned himself as the likeliest threat to Messi's Golden Boot. France beat Iraq 3-0, he's now on four, and unlike Norway, France are built to go the distance. The 2022 final replay against Argentina is the script everyone wants, and the odds will reflect that France are firm favourites to reach the latter stages where most of the goals are made.
Haaland's ceiling depends on Norway's survival
This is the uncomfortable truth sitting underneath Haaland's tournament. He's been sensational — two goals against Senegal, total conviction, the kind of form that makes defenders look slow — but Norway are in the World Cup for the first time since 1998, and their road ends when they meet one of the elite sides. Haaland himself said it plainly about Saturday's clash with France: "They're probably going to win against us, they're probably going to win the whole tournament."
His own coach, Stale Solbakken, put it differently: "He's not playing for France or Argentina. He scores for Norway." That's both a compliment and a ceiling. Golden Boot races are won in quarter-finals and semi-finals, not group stages.
- Messi (Argentina) — 5 goals, all-time World Cup record holder with 18
- Mbappe (France) — 4 goals, career tally 16, team built to go far
- Haaland (Norway) — 4 goals, faces France on Saturday, round of 16 ceiling likely
- Ronaldo (Portugal) — 2 goals this tournament, 12 career, mathematical long shot
Mbappe, for what it's worth, hasn't changed his view on who runs the game. "It's clear," he said. " is the best in the world." Coming from the man who snatched the 2022 Golden Boot with a final hat-trick, that's a remarkable thing to say out loud. Whether he still believes it in a few weeks depends entirely on which of them is still standing.
