World Cup: A Golden Boot race for the ages as goals rain in early stages

It’s been raining goals at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, if the first 10 days of action across North America are any indication. Little wonder, then, that a fascinating three-way battle for the Golden Boot is brewing between the ageless Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and goal machine Erling Haaland.

After just two Argentina matches, the football world cannot stop talking about the genius from Rosario. At 39, Lionel Messi has emphatically dispelled any notion that he would be used sparingly at this World Cup. Consider this: the talismanic captain, with seemingly nothing left to achieve in the game, has scored all five of Argentina's goals so far, including a hat-trick. In the process, he became the highest goalscorer in World Cup history with 18 goals, surpassing Miroslav Klose's long-standing record of 16, and has surged to the front of the Golden Boot race.

Tied for second place are French captain Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, with four goals each, after both struck braces against Iraq and Senegal, respectively, in their teams' second matches. Third in the race are two unlikely contenders — Germany's Deniz Undav and Canada's Jonathan David — with three goals apiece. But it is still early days, and plenty of surprises could lie ahead.

Early trends suggest the 2026 World Cup is turning into a goal-fest. After the first 40 of the tournament's 104 matches, 121 goals have been scored, with only three ending in goalless draws. That translates to an average of just over three goals per game — significantly higher than at Qatar 2022, which produced 172 goals in 64 matches at an average of 2.69 per game. The reasons behind the scoring surge are a debate for another day, but the tournament's leading marksmen have certainly been among its biggest beneficiaries.

The city of Dallas, home to NFL powerhouse the Dallas Cowboys, is expected to be in a celebratory mood when Argentina play their third and final group-stage match against Jordan on 27 June.

A reaction from the previous holder of a major sporting record always carries special significance, and Miroslav Klose, the relentless German marksman whose World Cup scoring record Messi surpassed, had no hesitation in hailing the Argentine great.

"I've always said Messi is no slouch. For me, Leo is the best footballer of all time. Congratulations, champion," Klose was quoted as saying by Goal.com.

While Messi and Klose may have been chalk and cheese in terms of their footballing skillsets, figures reveal a significant pattern in their goalscoring abilities – both scored four goals or more in three World Cups during their career. Messi had scored four in in 2014, seven during a successful campaign in 2022 and already five now in the US.

 It remains to be seen where Messi finishes in his last hurrah but looking at the bigger picture, there is little doubt that the prolific Mbappe will lord over the scoring charts in the coming decade. A head-to-head between Messi and Mbappe, the heir apparent to the title of the best footballer on the planet, shows that the athletic Frenchman’s scoring rate had been superior to the man being hailed as the God of football.

 While Messi overhauled Klose’s record of 16 goals in this record sixth Cup appearance, Mbappe is already on an aggregate of the same tally in his third Cup. Arriving in Russia 2018 as a precocious teenager, he struck four goals while in Qatar alone, he scored eight goals including a hattrick in the final. The last three and-a-half years may have been often patchy for him at the club level, but Mbappe seemed to be getting back into groove with 25 goals for Real Madrid last season.

 Wearing the captain’s armband for the first time in a World Cup (he succeeded the long serving Hugo Lloris in 2023), Mbappe has looked ready for the extra responsibility this time and it could only result in more goals from this explosive customer. Now 27, he can realistically look at two more World Cups – which means he could end up anywhere between 25 and 30 goals form and fitness permitting.

 This brings us to the Norwegian goal machine from Manchester City, who has started casting the ‘Haaland effect’ on rival defence in his first bow at the showpiece. The 25-year-old, whose scoring feats at the Blue half of Manchester has already earned him the mantle of arguably the most devastating No.9 of modern times, had scored 16 goals in the qualifying rounds to help Norway qualify for the World Cup finals after 28 years.

However, his pursuit of the Golden Boot in the US will depend on how deep his country can go into the tournament – for this is an irony which some of the best marksmen had to live through the generations. The biggest example of them being Cristiano Ronaldo himself, the man with most number of international goals among active footballers but with only eight goals – that too in group stages of the World Cup.

It’s more than likely that it could even a two-horse race between Messi and Mbappe for the highest scorer’s prize this time. As for the alltime list, one can bank of Mbappe as of now!