The race for the Word Cup Golden award seems to be heading to an intense finish, with four players currently vying for the honour as the tournament’s top marksman ahead of Sunday’s finals.
The France pair of Olivier Giroud and Mbappe and the Argentina duo of Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez are all still jostling for the top scorer’s prize to close out their Qatar journey on a high.
Mbappe has been the competition’s leading scorer over two rounds with an impressive five goals in five games which brought his overall tally to nine World Cup goals over two tournaments.
That feat also eclipsed Pele’s record as the youngest player to net as many goals before 24 years old.
His senior compatriot Giroud is also having a massive tournament netting four times in Qatar to help spearhead France’s attack. Among those goals includes his record-breaking 52nd strike which made him France’s all-time record scorer.
Records by both players could be extended on Wednesday when they play Morocco in their semi-final round as they seek a return to the finals.
Messi and Alvarez maintained their pursuit of the prize following Argentina’s mesmerizing 3-0 win over Croatia on Tuesday.
Captain Messi moved level with Mbappe following his penalty to bring up goal number five goals level of the tournament with one more game left having already qualified for the finals.
Messi’s fifth also move him to 11 world goals make’s him Argentina’s all-time leader surpassing the great Gabriel Omar Batistuta.
Alvarez who has really hit form for the two-time champs in the knock move his tally to four following a brace in their win to score in back-to-back games.
Given both their current form, it will not be farfetched to expect him to also be on the scoresheet in the finals.
The overall record for World Cup goals belongs to German great Miroslav Klose 16 goals in four campaigns (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014).
Klose is closely followed by former Brazilian striker Ronaldo, who has 15 goals to his account.
