Overview
- Saturday’s 6-4 third-place match in Miami saw Kylian Mbappé score twice and record an assist, moving him to 10 goals in the 2026 tournament and to a reported 22 career World Cup goals.
- The third-place game is an official fixture so those goals and assists count toward both the Golden Boot and all-time World Cup totals.
- Lionel Messi, with eight goals, is the only player left who can overtake Mbappé in the Golden Boot by scoring two goals to tie or three to win outright in the final.
- If Messi finishes level on goals, FIFA will apply tiebreakers first by most assists and then by fewest minutes played; Messi and Mbappé are reported to be level on four assists while Mbappé has logged more minutes than Messi so far.
- The final will not only decide the trophy but also the headline individual records from this tournament, which has already produced other notable marks such as Michael Olise’s seven assists and both players surpassing former leader Miroslav Klose.