Kylian Mbappé Chasing World Cup Glory but Not Lionel Messi
Kylian Mbappé is chasing history, but he is not chasing Lionel Messi.
Not yet, anyway.
The France captain walked off in Philadelphia on Tuesday night with two more World Cup goals to his name and Sweden in ruins, a 3-0 win firing Les Bleus into the last 16 and dragging him to the edge of one of the sport’s great records. Mbappé now has 18 World Cup goals in 18 games, one short of Messi’s all-time mark of 19, and six at this tournament alone.
The numbers are outrageous. He shrugs at them.
“I think the goal, as I said, is to go as far as possible – to make it to July 19th and come back here,” Mbappé told reporters, eyes fixed on the final in New York rather than the record books.
He knows the arithmetic. Every strike pushes him higher up the rankings, every game a chance to overtake the Argentinian he once watched from afar and now stalks on the biggest stage. Yet he refuses to turn it into a duel.
“I’m also convinced that Leo is going to score more goals, so I don’t focus too much on that,” he said. “I’m more focused on the opponents we might face and how close we’re getting to our goal: the final.”
Messi’s route looks gentle on paper. Argentina face Cape Verde in the last 32 on Friday. France’s path is laced with traps.
Next comes Paraguay in Philadelphia on Saturday, a side that just dumped Germany out on penalties after 120 minutes of deep defending and defiance. France have seen the tape. They know what is coming.
Paraguay barely crossed halfway against the four-time world champions and still found a way through. There will be no illusions within Didier Deschamps’ camp about an open game or generous space for Mbappé to run into.
“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,” Mbappé admitted. “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.”
France expect another low block, another night of patience and probing. Win that, and a quarter-final in Vancouver against co-hosts Canada or Morocco awaits. It is a bracket that has already chewed up reputations. Just ask Germany. Just ask the Netherlands.
Belgium’s Warning
No one is ignoring the upsets.
Belgium have already seen what happens when European heavyweights treat the knockout rounds like a formality. Germany are gone, ambushed by Paraguay. The Netherlands are gone, outlasted by Morocco. Belgium, who once carried the “golden generation” tag like a burden, are treading carefully.
They arrive in the knockouts with a measure of calm. Top of Group G. A 5-1 dismantling of New Zealand on Friday. One win, two draws, and a sense that, at minimum, they have exorcised the ghost of Qatar 2022, when they crashed out in the group stage four years after finishing third in Russia.
“We wanted to finish first in the group stage and we succeeded,” coach Rudi 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.”
The message is simple: job half-done.
Senegal wait in Seattle on Wednesday, a side that finished third in a brutal Group I behind France and Erling Haaland’s Norway but emerged with three points and a positive goal difference. They arrive hardened, not cowed.
“We know it will be a tough match,” Romelu Lukaku said. “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.”
Events in the round of 32 only sharpened his point. Paraguay sent Germany home. Morocco dumped the Netherlands out. The hierarchy of international football, always fragile at World Cups, looks especially shaky now.
“It doesn’t matter who the favorite is,” added forward Charles De Ketelaere. “We have confidence and need to be sharp. Yesterday showed that it doesn’t matter if you are the favorite.”
Belgium’s defence, anchored by Thibaut Courtois, has conceded just two goals in three games. That record will be tested by a Senegal team that just thrashed Iraq 5-0 and still leans heavily on Sadio Mané for inspiration.
There is a twist, though. At the back, Senegal are patched up. Édouard Mendy, injured in a 3-2 defeat to Norway in the group stage, will not feature. Coach Pape Thiaw confirmed that reserve keeper Mory Diaw, who kept a clean sheet against Iraq, is expected to start again.
“Mory had a great performance,” Thiaw said. “He kept a clean sheet and I think (as) the goalkeeper tomorrow, we hope that we’ll also come up with a clean sheet.”
The Senegal coach has watched the same chaos as everyone else. He senses opportunity.
“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.”
Belgium, at least, have a small boost at the back. Center back Zeno Debast, yet to play a minute this World Cup because of a left leg injury, is fit enough to rejoin the group, though Garcia does not plan to throw him straight in.
“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.”
England Walk the Tightrope
Across the Atlantic, England step into their own minefield.
Thomas Tuchel’s side meet the Democratic Republic of Congo in Atlanta on Wednesday with a place in the last 16 on the line and the ghosts of Germany and the Netherlands hanging over every favourite left standing.
The mission for England is blunt: end a 60-year wait for a major trophy. The path to that ambition looks anything but straightforward.
“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),” Tuchel said on Tuesday. Then came the caution. “The games so far in round of 32 speak a very clear language. It’s narrow, narrow margins.”
England will lean heavily on Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane to tilt those margins. They will have to do it without Reece James, the influential defender ruled out through injury.
DR Congo arrive with nothing to lose and a squad built from a global search for talent with roots in the vast central African nation. Of the 26 players, 20 were born outside Congo, most in France. Many know European football intimately.
Yoane Wissa is a familiar face to Premier League defenders. Aaron Wan-Bissaka grew up in London and represented England at under-21 level. Axel Tuanzebe also came through England’s youth ranks. There is no mystique here, no awe.
For coach Sébastien Desabre, that suits him perfectly.
“Our World Cup is already a success relative to our goals,” the Frenchman said. “The pressure is on the England team.”
A Nation on the Edge
While Europe wrestles with its own anxieties, the United States stands on the brink of something else entirely.
In a crowded American sports landscape, football has clawed its way into the conversation. On Wednesday night in the San Francisco Bay Area, it gets its loudest microphone yet. The USA face Bosnia-Herzegovina in what the players openly call the biggest match in the country’s football history.
Up to 30 million viewers are expected to tune in during primetime. That is Super Bowl territory, a stage that Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna and their teammates have long imagined, but never truly inhabited.
“Everyone knows in the back of our minds what this could do for this country,” 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 task is clear: deliver the USA’s first World Cup knockout win in almost 25 years. Fail, and the moment risks becoming another near-miss. Succeed, and the sport’s ceiling in America shifts again.
A fading golden generation, a ruthless France, a restless England, a rising USA – all of them now move under the same World Cup sky, one that has already swallowed giants and elevated outsiders.
On Tuesday, Mbappé and France reminded everyone what elite power still looks like. The Real Madrid forward sliced through Sweden, scoring twice in a performance that felt as much about unity as it did about brilliance. After one goal, the players sprinted to the touchline to embrace Deschamps, still grieving 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.”
Elsewhere, Erling Haaland nudged Norway into the last 16 for the first time, stabbing home the decisive goal in a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast. Another superstar, another milestone, another contender edging into view.
The tournament now tightens. Every game feels like a fault line. One slip, and the favourites join Germany and the Netherlands on the wrong side of history.
Mbappé has his eyes on July 19 and New York. Belgium fight to keep a golden era alive. England chase an overdue crown. The USA chase a breakthrough night.
Only one of them will get what they came for.
