Today's World Cup 3rd place game between France and England marked Kylian Mbappe's 22nd World Cup game in his third tournament. While battling Argentina's Lionel Messi for the all-time goalscoring record all tournament, he came out in front.
Despite conceding four goals to England in the first half, Mbappe and Les Bleus came out of the second half on fire, rapidly scoring three goals in the first 20 minutes. Mbappe scored two of those goals, rising to a whopping 10 goals scored over eight games played.
More importantly, the second goal he scored in the 66th minute put him above Messi for the all-time World Cup goal scoring record with 22. He now has 10 goals this tournament, combined with eight from 2022 and four more from his World Cup debut in 2018 when France won the whole thing.
Playing for Third
Unfortunately, those two goals are of little consequence, whether France won or lost the game. They were eliminated from title contention at the hands of Spain earlier this week in a game where neither Mbappe or anyone else on Les Bleus could break through.
Even if Messi doesn't tie or break the marks Mbappe now holds, he'll be competing for his second straight World Cup title tomorrow while Mbappe is forced to watch the man who thwarted him in 2022 from his hotel room.
© Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images
It's also a bit of an unfortunate way for France head coach Didier Deschamps to go out. The all-time leader in World Cup game wins has announced his retirement from international coaching after this tournament.
But Deschamps' expected replacement, French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane, will be taking over as Mbappe's new coach in 2030 and beyond. At 27 years of age, Mbappe could very well have two, three or even four more World Cups to play where he can either win more titles or at least extend his goal record to a near-impossible mark to pass.
2026 may have been a deep disappointment for France, but the future is still fairly bright.
