World Cup 2026 has reached the final stage with only the third-place match and the final. Currently, the top scorer race is still undecided as there are 6 stars participating. Leading are Kylian Mbappe (France) and Lionel Messi (Argentina) with 8 goals each. Following that, the England pair is Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham with 6 goals each. The two with 5 goals are Mikel Oyarzabal (Spain) and Ousmane Dembele (France).
At the 2018 World Cup, Kane won the Golden Shoe with 6 goals. 4 years later, Mbappe did the same with 8 goals. If Messi wins the title this time, this will be his first time at the age of 39.
The two brightest stars are Mbappe and Messi. They not only broke Miroslav Klose's record deeply but are also directly competing. In the journey to the final stage, Messi missed 2 penalties, while Mbappe had 1 penalty. If the two have the same number of goals, the sub-indices will be considered as assists and minutes played respectively.
Messi has never won the World Cup Golden Boot, but he has won the World Cup Golden Ball twice (2014 and 2022). In these two campaigns, he has scored 4 goals - 1 assist and 7 goals - 3 assists respectively. Since 1970, no player has scored more than 8 goals in a World Cup. The record that year belonged to "Bombarder" Gerd Muller of the German national team with 10 goals. Previously in 1958, the record for the most goals in a World Cup belonged to Just Fontaine of France with 13 goals.
Messi and Mbappe both have diversity in scoring. Their goals all started in the 5m50, 16m50 and outside the penalty area. Mbappe and Olise's most harmonious partners when he received 3 assists from teammates. Meanwhile, no one has passed to Messi so many assists.
Although he is the main striker, in terms of the number of penetrations into the opponent's penalty area, a rather surprising thing is that both Mbappe and Messi do not have as many times as Bellingham. All 6 goals so far of the English star have come in the penalty area. Meanwhile, with Kane, 3 goals he scored thanks to headers, 2 goals from penalties, and finally a very difficult corner shot to defeat DRC Congo in the round of 32.
In the third-place match, Mbappe, Dembele, Kane and Bellingham all have the opportunity to improve their performance. This will largely depend on the decisions of coaches like Didier Deschamps or Thomas Tuchel. If they want to create opportunities for those who have not yet played, the starting ability of the above-mentioned big stars will be left open. In the opposite direction, some big names like Mbappe, it is unclear how much motivation the Real Madrid striker still has to play in the third-place match, in the context that he sets a goal to win the championship and has played in the final twice before.
Historically, World Cup third-place matches often have many goals. Since Poland's 1-0 victory over Brazil in 1974, third-place matches have had 2 or more goals. A typical example is in 1958, Just Fontaine scored 4 goals in France's 6-3 victory over West Germany.
One of the common points of many strikers who won the World Cup Golden Boot is that they all had more goals in the domestic league before the World Cup than when this festival ended. Kane (2018), Muller (2010), Klose (2006), Suker (1998), Schillaci (1990), Lineker (1986), Kempes (1978) and Muller (1970) all followed this rule. Some exceptions are Rodriguez (2014) and Ronaldo (2002), after a successful World Cup campaign, they still continued to shine at the club in the following season.
With Mbappe and Messi, whether or not they have the 2026 World Cup Golden Shoe does not have too much influence on their reputation in their careers. However, if they win it, the legacy of these stars at the World Cup will be marked with another brilliant milestone.
