Messi Still on Top as the World Cup Golden Boot Race Starts to Take Shape
The second round of the World Cup group stage is now complete, and we can conclude that the goals are still flowing, especially from the major goalscorers who continue to deliver. Here we will mainly focus on the goalscorers, of course, but we start by going through some other events.
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Hakan Çalhanoglu and his Turkey are guaranteed to be eliminated after the group stage
Some Teams Are Flying, While Others Are Already Out
Mexico, the USA, Germany, France, Norway, Argentina and Colombia are the teams that have started the World Cup with two wins. Even if no one can complain about teams with nothing but victories, none of them have dominated so much that they deserve to be singled out further, whether among those teams that have won both their matches or any others. The pre-tournament favourites all remain strong, however, and it is still primarily France, Spain, Argentina and England who are the main favourites to win the World Cup.There are also a few teams sitting on zero points after two matches, and some of them are already eliminated because it is mathematically impossible for them to finish anywhere other than last in the group. To clarify, head-to-head record is the first tiebreaker, followed by goal difference.
The most surprising eliminated team is Turkey. The Turks ended up in a relatively straightforward group and were something of a favourite to win it. Instead, they have lost first to Australia 2-0 and then to Paraguay 1-0, despite Paraguay playing with one man fewer throughout the entire second half. Even if Turkey beat the USA in the final round (the Americans have already secured top spot in the group with six points), they still cannot overtake either Australia or Paraguay, since both of those teams beat Turkey in the head-to-head meetings.
Other teams already out for the same reason (they cannot overtake any team because of the head-to-head rule) are Haiti, Tunisia, Jordan and Panama. Uzbekistan are also on zero points, but in their final match they can pass DR Congo (Congo-Kinshasa) and therefore finish third, which means they still have a chance of progressing as one of the best third-placed teams.
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Kylian Mbappé is chasing Messi at the top of the scoring chart
Some of the Big Goalscorers Are Delivering as Expected
Now we move on to what is most important in this article: a closer look at the World Cup's biggest goalscorers and the top of the scoring chart.Lionel Messi made a flying start with a hat-trick in the first round, and he followed that up by scoring twice in Argentina's 2-0 win over Austria, despite missing a penalty when the score was 0-0. Messi has therefore scored five goals in the first two matches (and 100 percent of Argentina's goals) and naturally leads the scoring chart. With those two goals, he also moved past Miroslav Klose and is now the World Cup's all-time top goalscorer outright, with 18 goals in total.
The World Cup also started well for Kylian Mbappé, with two goals in the first match against Senegal, and he followed that up with two more against Iraq, in a match disrupted by storms and rain and temporarily suspended, but eventually won 3-0 by France. The first goal was a shot the goalkeeper probably should have saved, and the second came after a huge mistake in the Iraqi defence, a real gift. But easy goals count too, and Mbappé has four goals after two matches.
Norway's Erling Haaland also has four goals after two rounds. He began with two goals against Iraq in the first round and added two more against Senegal in Norway's 3-2 win. Unlike Mbappé's two goals, both of Haaland's goals were of high quality, and they are worth watching in the match highlights.
A Tougher Time for Harry Kane
Another of the favourites to win the Golden Boot, England's Harry Kane, had also scored two goals in the first round but followed that up with a goalless match against Ghana. England generally struggled against an extremely disciplined and compact Ghanaian defence, and failed to break down the Africans as the match ended 0-0.England would probably have lost, however, if Ghana had been awarded a penalty when Prince Adu was brought down by Ezri Konsa in the penalty area late in the match. Normally, it would have been a clear penalty, but for some unfathomable reason both the referee and the VAR officials decided to let the situation go. If an English player had been brought down in the same way, the protests would likely have been significantly louder, and it is hard not to feel that smaller nations sometimes end up at a disadvantage with decisions like this.
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Jonathan David scored a hat-trick for Canada
Hat-Trick From Canada's Jonathan David
Kane therefore remains on just two goals, but we have two other players sitting on three. One of them is Jonathan David, who failed to score in Canada's opening match but had a much more enjoyable game in the second round against Qatar. Canada crushed Qatar 6-0, and David scored three of their goals. This was the tournament's second hat-trick, but surely not the last, as several players have already come close.The other player on three goals is Germany's Deniz Undav, and he deserves a very special kind of respect for it. The reason is that Undav has started both matches on the bench but has still scored three goals and provided two assists for the Germans. One goal and two assists in the first match against Curaçao were perhaps not that significant, as Germany won that match comfortably (7-1), but Undav's two goals against Ivory Coast were far more important. Germany were trailing in that match after the first half, but after Undav came on in the 60th minute, he single-handedly secured the 2-1 win for the Germans by scoring both of their goals. Undav has averaged 18 minutes of playing time between his three goals, which is impressive to say the least, and Nagelsmann will surely find it difficult to keep him out of the starting eleven from now on.
Cristiano Ronaldo is happier after the second round of the World Cup
Other Notable Goalscorers
Two of the pre-tournament favourites to win the Golden Boot, but who were goalless in the first round, are Spain's Mikel Oyarzabal and Portugal's veteran Cristiano Ronaldo. Both would, however, have a more enjoyable second round.Spain were very surprisingly goalless in the first round after only managing a 0-0 draw against Cape Verde, but things clicked against Saudi Arabia, especially for their frontman Mikel Oyarzabal, who scored two of Spain's goals in the 4-0 win.
Portugal also had a flat first round, with only a 1-1 draw against DR Congo, and the player who received the most criticism after that match was Cristiano Ronaldo, who honestly looked very pale. In the match against Uzbekistan, things went much better, both for Ronaldo and Portugal. The final score was 5-0 in Portugal's favour, and Ronaldo scored two of the goals and had several chances to complete a hat-trick after his second. Ronaldo still showed that he has something left to give. As the icing on the cake, he became the first player ever to score in six different World Cup tournaments in a row, and he loves breaking records, so he is probably very happy about that.
In total, 20 players have scored two goals each. Even if we do not intend to go through all of them here, we can mention a few names who may have a chance of joining the battle near the top of the scoring chart eventually, such as Brazil's Vinícius Júnior, Germany's Kai Havertz, the Netherlands' Cody Gakpo and Morocco's Ismael Saibari.
A small honourable mention also goes to the 20-year-old Swiss player Johan Manzambi. Switzerland had major problems breaking down Bosnia-Herzegovina, but after Manzambi came on in the 71st minute, he changed everything in Switzerland's favour. He made it 1-0 to Switzerland in the 74th minute, was involved in the situation that led to Tarik Muharemovic being sent off in the 80th minute and scored 3-0 in the 90th minute. The final score was eventually 4-1, thanks to Manzambi's fantastic substitute appearance, which is worth watching in the match highlights here, and in other words he is also one of the players sitting on two goals.