Kylian Mbappé Chases World Cup Glory and Messi's Record
Kylian Mbappé is stalking a record, but chasing a date.
Lionel Messi’s World Cup scoring mark is within touching distance, yet the France captain keeps pointing to one line on the calendar: July 19, New York, the World Cup final.
On Tuesday in the round of 32, Mbappé tore through Sweden with the kind of ruthless clarity that has defined his tournament. Two goals in a 3-0 win, six for this World Cup, 18 in 18 games on this stage. He is now just one behind Messi’s all-time record of 19 World Cup goals and level with the Argentine at the top of this edition’s scoring charts.
The numbers are staggering. He brushes them aside.
“I think the goal, as I said, is to go as far as possible – to make it to (the final on) July 19th and come back here,” he told reporters, his eyes already fixed on the next hurdle rather than the record books.
He knows what his finishing means for history. He just refuses to let it dictate his priorities.
“We’re trying to win; we’re taking it one step at a time. Of course, the more goals you score, the higher you climb in the rankings – I’m not telling anyone anything new there.
“But I’m also convinced that Leo is going to score more goals, so I don’t focus too much on that. I’m more focused on the opponents we might face and how close we’re getting to our goal: the final.”
Messi’s Argentina now get Cape Verde in the last 32 on Friday. France, meanwhile, head for Philadelphia and a very different kind of assignment.
France brace for Paraguay’s barricade
Next up for Didier Deschamps’ side: Paraguay, the team that turned Germany’s World Cup into rubble.
On Monday, Paraguay dragged the four-time champions into a trench war, defended deep, refused to open up and then kicked them out of the tournament on penalties. It was ugly. It was effective. It will not change against France.
There is almost no scenario in which Paraguay suddenly decides to go toe-to-toe with Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and the rest in an open game on Saturday. France know it.
Les Bleus, Mbappé insisted, will treat the match like a puzzle, not a procession.
“I think we’ll keep working between now and the Paraguay match to see what we can improve, because there are still some sequences that aren't quite clear enough, there’s room for improvement,” he said.
“Still, I think it’s positive overall, and our ability to score goals means we always have the chance to take the lead in matches.”
The message is clear: France will not underestimate a team that has already sent a European giant home. Not after what this round has already produced.
Because it isn’t just Germany who have crashed.
Morocco stunned the Netherlands on penalties as well, booting another heavyweight out of the competition and sending a warning to anyone tempted to lean on reputation.
This World Cup has teeth.
Belgium’s reset and a dangerous Senegal
Belgium know that better than most. Their golden generation has already tasted the bitterness of early elimination, tumbling out at the group stage in Qatar four years after finishing third in Russia.
This time, there is at least a sense of course correction.
A 5-1 demolition of New Zealand on Friday sealed top spot in Group G. One win, two draws, job done in the first phase. Coach Rudi Garcia set a modest initial target, and his team met it.
“We wanted to finish first in the group stage and we succeeded,” Garcia said in French. “Of course we wanted to win more — we know the story of our World Cup so far. Now it is time for the knockout phase. Senegal is a big team. But, you have to beat them, too, if you want to go far in a World Cup.”
Senegal await in the round of 32 on Wednesday, a side that finished third in Group I with three points and a plus-2 goal difference after surviving one of the tournament’s most unforgiving groups, featuring France and an Erling Haaland-led Norway.
Romelu Lukaku, who has carried Belgium through so many campaigns, did not sugarcoat the challenge.
“We know it will be a tough match,” he said in French. “Senegal has a lot of top-level players, and the coach is, too. I think it’s 50-50. We really shouldn’t underestimate them.”
The events of Monday night only sharpened that view. Germany gone. The Netherlands gone. Both beaten by teams that refused to accept the script.
“It doesn’t matter who the favorite is,” forward Charles De Ketelaere said. “We have confidence and need to be sharp. Yesterday showed that it doesn’t matter if you are the favorite.”
Belgium have been tight at the back, conceding just two goals in three matches with Thibaut Courtois anchoring them from goal. That discipline will be tested by a Senegal attack brimming with confidence after a 5-0 rout of Iraq, led by Sadio Mané.
Yet Senegal arrive wounded in one key area.
Goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, injured in a 3-2 defeat to Norway in the group stage, will not feature on Wednesday, coach Pape Thiaw confirmed. Mory Diaw, who started and kept a clean sheet against Iraq, is in line to continue.
“Mory had a great performance,” Thiaw said in French. “He kept a clean sheet and I think (as) the goalkeeper tomorrow, we hope that we’ll also come up with a clean sheet.”
Thiaw’s belief runs deeper than one position.
“It’s not because you finished top of your group that you’re not going to be knocked out in the next round,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened with the Netherlands. It’s another tournament starting. We are looking for the win tomorrow so that we can continue our journey.”
There is some good news for Belgium. Center back Zeno Debast, yet to feature this summer because of a left leg injury, is finally back with the group. He trained on Monday after an MRI on Saturday and worked again on Tuesday with tape on his left knee.
“Zeno Debast is with the group, but tomorrow is still too soon,” Garcia said. “He is making progress, though. He still needs time to get fully fit, as was anticipated. I am very satisfied with the defenders we have already called upon.”
For Kevin De Bruyne, Lukaku and the rest of this fading golden core, Senegal in Seattle is not just another knockout tie. It is a measure of whether this generation has one last deep run in it.
England walk the tightrope, USA chase a moment
The chaos elsewhere has not gone unnoticed in the England camp.
On Wednesday, Thomas Tuchel’s side face the Democratic Republic of Congo in Atlanta with a place in the last 16 at stake, and the ghosts of Germany and the Netherlands for company.
Two European powers are already out, both ambushed in the round of 32. England are desperate not to join them as they chase an end to a 60-year wait for a major trophy.
Tuchel did not dodge the reality of expectation.
“I feel it is a privilege to be in these situations. I think we can just accept it, we are the favorites (against DR Congo),” he said on Tuesday.
The warning came quickly after.
“The games so far in round of 32 speak a very clear language. It’s narrow, narrow margins.”
England lean heavily on Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, the world-class spine of a side that has grown used to deep tournament runs. They will, however, be without influential defender Reece James, ruled out of the game through injury.
DR Congo arrive with a different kind of story. Their federation has scoured the globe for talent with roots in the vast central African nation. Of the 26-man squad, 20 were born outside Congo, many in France. Yoane Wissa is well known to English defenders from the Premier League. Aaron Wan-Bissaka grew up in London and represented England at under-21 level. Axel Tuanzebe also came through England’s youth ranks.
Their coach, Sébastien Desabre, has been clear about where the burden lies.
“Our World Cup is already a success relative to our goals,” the Frenchman said. “The pressure is on the England team.”
Across the Atlantic, another kind of pressure is building.
In a crowded American sports landscape, football has been climbing steadily. Wednesday’s match in the San Francisco Bay Area could shove it onto an entirely new tier.
The USA face Bosnia-Herzegovina in what the players know is the biggest game of their footballing lives. A nation still searching for its first World Cup knockout win in almost 25 years suddenly finds up to 30 million viewers expected to tune in for a primetime kickoff.
“Everyone knows in the back of our minds what this could do for this country,” midfielder Gio Reyna said.
“We feel the country rallying around us. We see the momentum it’s bringing to the sport in this country, just through the group stage. But we also understand if we make a nice run in this tournament, what it could really do for the sport.”
The stakes are sporting and cultural, all at once.
Mbappé’s embrace and Haaland’s breakthrough
Back in France’s orbit, the mood is intense but united.
On Tuesday, after one of Mbappé’s goals against Sweden, the French players sprinted not just to their scorer but to their coach. They wrapped Didier Deschamps in a long embrace, a quiet act of solidarity after the death of his mother this month.
“I think that reflects the spirit of this group — it’s part of our DNA. We are all together,” Mbappé told beIN Sports.
“We know the coach has been through a difficult experience; unfortunately, everyone goes through that at some point and it’s very hard.”
On the pitch, France looked anything but fragile. They played with a fluidity and cutting edge that few teams in this tournament can match, Mbappé gliding through defenders, the attack humming around him.
Elsewhere, another superstar took a step into new territory.
Erling Haaland’s goal against Ivory Coast – a poacher’s finish, poked home at close range – carried Norway into the last 16 for the first time. For a country that has watched its talisman dominate club football, this was the breakthrough it had been waiting for on the international stage.
So the World Cup moves on, stripped of some of its traditional powers, reshaped by upsets, driven by its brightest stars. Mbappé chases Messi’s record but talks only of New York. Belgium’s veterans cling to one more run. England edge along a tightrope. The USA stare at a chance to shift a nation’s sporting landscape.
In a tournament that keeps punishing complacency, who dares believe their story will still be alive on July 19?
